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6 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

LIBRARY 

, ,f P 2] I8H5 ! 

WRITTEN BY[ //(vr'f (][' fflfs 5]\Tff!pT)Tp;) I 
THE MEMORABLE WORTHIES OF THEIR TIME,' ' '" ' 

Mr. JOHN FLETCHER and ) 

" >• Gent. 

Mr. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, ) 



Edited, with Notes, 

By 

WILLIAM J. ROLFE, A.M., 

FORMERLY HEAD MASTER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 



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PREFACE. 



I HAVE included The Two Noble Kinsmen in this edition of Shake- 
speare's works because, as I have said below (see p. 21), he appears to 
have some share in the composition of the play. I have nothing to 
add here to the discussion of that question except a few paragraphs 
from Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps's Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare (2d ed. 
1882), which would have been included in the Introduction if I had 
seen them in time. He states concisely "the main external testimonies 
on each side of the question ;" and among the " reasons for believing 
that the great dramatist had no share whatever in the composition" are 
the following: 

" I. When John Waterson, in October, 1646, transferred to Humphrey 
Moseley his copyright interests in three plays— 77?^ Elder Brother, Mon- 
sieur Thomas, and The Two Noble Kinsmen — the undivided authorship 
of all of them is distinctly assigned to Fletcher in the register, the third 
appearing there under the title of The Noble Kinsman. The Fletcherian 
authorship of the two other dramas is undisputed ; and if Waterson 
really believed that Shakespeare had written part of the last, there seems 
no reason why the name of the great dramatist should not have been 
given in the entry of the assignment. ... 2. In a list of books printed for 
Moseley, which is inserted at the end of some copies of Shirley's Six 
New Playes, 1653, occurs ' the Two Noble Kinsmen, a comedy written 
by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, gent, in 4°.' The same entry 
is met with the following year in a similar list of the works of the same 
publisher, these announcements singularly contrasting with his trading 
anxiety to use the name of Shakespeare improperly in other instances. 
It should be carefully recollected <hat Moseley was specially connected 
with the works of Beaumont and Fletcher, so that his evidence, valueless 
in a question of Shakespearian* authorship, is most likely important in 
regard to the works of the former dramatists. ... 5. The absence of con- 
temporary evidence that Shakespeare and Fletcher were acquainted with 
each other. ... 7. The direct evidence of Leonard Digges, about the year 
1623, of Shakespeare's aversion to any kind of literary partnership, so 
that he even carefully avoided the then common practice of availing 
himself of scenes written for him by other dramatists. — 8. The parallel 



vi PREFACE. 

instance of * the History of Cardenio by Mr. Fletcher and Shakespeare ' 
having been entered by Moseley on the registers of the Stationers' Com- 
pany in the year 1653. — 9. Finally, the extreme improbability of a dram- 
atist of Shakespeare's unrivalled power and rapidity of composition en- 
tering, at the maturest period of his reputation, into the joint-authorship 
of a play with a much younger writer, and of the latter having in such a 
case the assurance to be palpably imitating him, both characterially and 
verbally, in his portion of the work." 

It will be noted- that most of these arguments, while they tend to dis- 
prove the theory (adopted by Hickson, Skeat, Hudson, and others) that 
Shakespeare and Fletcher worked together or according to some " part- 
nership " plan, do not affect the more probable theory (of Dyce, Stack, 
Furnivall, Fleay, and others) that Fletcher filled out after his own fashion 
a play left incomplete by Shakespeare. 

In editing the play, I have made free use, as the frequent acknowl- 
edgments in the Notes will show, of the valuable editions by Littledale 
and Skeat ; and I have been almost entirely dependent upon them for the 
collation of the early texts. 

The text is somewhat " expurgated," but less than in Knight's " Picto- 
rial " edition, and much less than in Skeat's, which is intended for school 
use. In this country the play may be read in colleges, but is not likely 
to be taken up in the preparatory schools. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction to The Two Noble Kinsmen 9 

I. The History of the Play 9 

II. The Sources of the Plot 24 

III. Critical Comments on the Play 26 

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN . . , 45 

Act 1 47 

" II 66 

" III 87 

" IV 114 

" V 129 

Notes 151 




John Fletcher. 




PANATHENAIC PROCESSION. FROM THE FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON. 



INTRODUCTION 

TO 

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



I. THE HISTORY OF THE PLAY. 

The Two Noble Kinsmen was first printed, so far as we 
know, in 1634, in quarto form and with the following title- 
page (as given in the New Shakspere Society reprint, edited 
by Littledale) : 

THE I TWO I NOBLE | KINSMEN: | Presented at 

the Blackfriers | by the Kings Maiesties servants, | with 

great applause : | Written by the memorable Worthies | of 

, . ^. I ( My ^ohn Fletcher, and ") ^ ^ -d • ^ j 

their time: \ ^.rrrr-yi- c^r I . ^ Gent. Printed 

I (. My Willtam Shakspeare. ) 

at London by Tho. Cotes, for John Waterson : \ and are to 

be sold at the signe of the Crowne \ in Pauls Church-yard. 

1634. 

The two copies of this edition collated by Mr. Littledale 

differ occasionally, indicating that it was revised while go- 



lO THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

ing through the press.* It was printed, as Skeat notes, 
from a prompter's copy; for it contains a few marginal 
notes that refer to the representation of the play. We 
learn from these that the name of the actor who took the 
part of the Messenger in iv. 2 was Curtis \ and that two of 
the Attendants in v. 3 were Curtis and T. Tucke. 

The play also appeared in the 2d (1679) edition of 
Beaumont and Fletcher's dramas, being one of "no fewer 
than Seventeen Plays more than were in the former" (the 
ist folio, of 1647), as the preface tells us.t It is not gener- 
ally included in editions of Shakespeare', but may be found 
in Knight's (vol. of "Doubtful Plays"), Dyce's (2d. and 
later eds.), the " Leopold," and Hudson's ( " Harvard " ed.). 

That two hands are to be seen in The Two Noble Kins- 
men is now generally agreed, and that one of these is 
Fletcher's cannot be doubted. It is also pretty certain that 
Shakespeare had something to do with the composition of 
the play; but just how much is a question on which the 
critics differ widely. 

Charles Lamb, in his English Dramatic Poets (1808), se- 
lects from this play nearly all of i. i, part of i. 3, and the 
dialogue between Palamon and Arcite before Emilia enters 
in ii. 2. This last scene, he says, " bears indubitable marks 
of Fletcher ; the two which precede it give strong counte- 
nance to the tradition that Shakespeare had a hand in this 

* For an interesting account of variations in old copies of the same 
edition, see Mr. W. A. Wright's "Golden Treasury" ed. oi Bacon's Es- 
says (London, 1863), p. 350. 

t Dyce, in the 2d ed. of his Shakespeare (vol. viii. p. 117) says that 
"it is printed also in the folios of Shakespeare, 1664 and 1685;" and, 
as Littledale notes, the slip is not corrected in his 3d ed. (1876). Mr. 
W. C. Hazlitt repeats the mistake in his ed. of Hazlitt's Literature of 
the Age of Elizabeth (London, 1870) ; and so does Hudson (though he 
mentions only the 1664 folio) in his "Harvard" ed. (vol. xix. p. 129). 
We find it also in Ulrici's Shakespeare' s Dramatic Art (3d ed., translated 
by Schmitz, 1876), vol. ii. p. 403. 



INTRODUCTION. . n 

play." These and other passages, he adds, "have a luxu- 
riance in them which strongly resembles Shakespeare's 
manner in those parts of his plays where, the progress of 
the interest being subordinate, the poet was at leisure for 
description." • 

Coleridge, as reported in his Table-Talk (1833), said: "I 
have no doubt whatever that the first act and the first 
scene of the second act of The Two Noble Kinsmen are 
Shakespeare's ;" and later he writes (Harper's ed. of Works, 
vol. iv. p. 219): "On comparing the prison scene of Pala- 
mon and Arcite, ii. 2, with the dialogue between the same 
speakers, i. 2, I can scarcely retain a doubt as to the first 
act's having been written by Shakespeare." The construc- 
tion of the blank verse, he adds, " proves beyond all doubt 
an intentional imitation, if not the proper hand, of Shake- 
speare. . . . On the other hand, the harshness of many of 
these very passages, a harshness unrelieved by any lyrical 
inter-breathings, and still more the want of profundity in 
the thoughts, keep me from an absolute decision." 

In 1833, Professor William Spalding, of Edinburgh, pub- 
lished a Letter on Shakespeare's Authorship of the Two Noble 
Kinsmen (reprinted by the New Shakspere Society, in 1876), 
which is the most elaborate discussion of the subject that 
has yet appeared. Mr. Furnivall gives the following ab- 
stract of it in his Introduction to the " Leopold " Shake- 
speare (p. xcviii.) : 

"Professor Spalding contrasts the broken and pauseful 
versification of Shakspere with Fletcher's smoother end- 
stopped and double-ending lines. He finds in The Two Noble 
Kinsmen many of Shakspere's images and his very words, 
as well as the energy, obscurity, abruptness, and brevity of 
his late plays, while in other parts of the play he shows that 
there is the diffuseness, the amplification, and delicacy of 
Fletcher. As instances of Shakspere's metaphors he quotes 
' what man thirds his own worth ?' ' Let us be widows to 



12 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

our woes;' *Our kind air, to them unkind;' 'Her arms shall 
corslet thee;' 'unpang'd judgment;' 

" ' Our Reasons are not prophets, 
When oft our Fancies are ;' 

" 'Give us the bones 
Of our dead kings that we may chapel them ;' 

and the like. Then he finds in one part of the play the 
active imagination of Shakspere, hardly ever indulging in 
lengthened description, whereas in other parts or scenes are 
Fletcher's poverty of metaphor and his romantic and pict- 
uresque descriptions. He contrasts, too, Shakspere's treat- 
ment of mythology with Fletcher's, and shows the difference 
in the two poets. Then he contrasts Shakspere's tendency 
to reflection, and his active and inquiring thought, his prac- 
tical worldly wisdom, the mass of general truths he puts into 
his writing, with the want of these characteristics in Fletch- 
er. Shakspere's faults of conceit and quibbles, too, with 
their resistless force, he contrasts with the slow elegance 
and want of pointedness in Fletcher, who is also almost 
guiltless of plays on words. Then he shows how Shak- 
spere differs from Fletcher in his personification of Grief 
and Time, Strife and War, Peace and Love, Mercy and 
Courage, Reason and Fancy, etc. He also shows what a 
firm grasp of imagery Shakspere has as contrasted with 
Fletcher, and again how the choice of the simple story must 
have been Shakspere's, who belonged to the old school, 
and not Fletcher's, who belonged to the new school of in- 
volved and invented plots. Shakspere relied on charac- 
terization and avoided spectacles. He kept in this play 
the two moving passions of Love and Jealousy always 
in the front, which Fletcher could not have done. The 
harmony of its parts was, too, an idea beyond Fletcher's. 
The shrewdness and good sense of the characters were 
so likewise. And, on the whole, Professor Spalding con- 



INTROD UCTION. 



13 



eluded that Shakspere wrote act i., act iii. sc. i, and act 
V. except sc. 2." 

Later, as Mr. Furnivall points out, Professor Spalding 
modified his own early judgment. In the Edmburgh Re- 
view for July, 1840 (p. 468), he stated that his opinion "is 
not so decided as it once was ;" and in the same periodical 
for July, 1847 (P- 57^); ^^ declared that "the question of 
Shakespeare's share in this play is really insoluble." 

Hallam doubted whether Shakespeare had a share in the 
play. He says {Literature of Europe, vol. iii. p. 318, Amer. 
ed.) : " The 2wo Noble Kinsmen is a play that has been 
honoured by a tradition of Shakespeare's concern in it. 
The evidence as to this is the title-page of the first edition ; 
which, though it may seem much at first sight, is next to 
nothing in our old drama, full of misnomers of the kind. 
The editors of Beaumont and Fletcher have insisted upon 
what they take for marks of Shakespeare's style ; and 
Schlegel, after 'seeing no reason for doubting so probable 
an opinion,' detects the spirit of Shakespeare in a certain 
ideal purity which distinguishes this from other plays of 
Fletcher, and in the conscientious fidelity"* with which it 
follows the Knighfs Tale in Chaucer. The Two Noble Kins- 
nieji has much of that elevated sense of honour, friend- 
ship, fidelity, and love, which belongs, I think, more charac- 
teristically to Fletcher, who had drunk at the fountain of 
Castilian romance, than to one in whose vast mind this con- 
ventional morality of particular classes was subordinated to 
the universal nature of man. In this sense Fletcher is al- 
ways, in his tragic compositions, a very ideal poet. The 
subject itself is fitter for him than for Shakespeare. In the 

* Skeat remarks: "This 'conscientious fidelity' is not always con- 
spicuous ; the authors follow Chaucer when they please. It is well 
worth remarking that the confusion in act iv. sc. 2, where the descri])- 
tions, copied from Chaucer, are applied to the wrong persons, occurs in 
a scene which was almost certainly written by Fletcher." 



14 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

language and conduct of this play, with great deference to 
better and more attentive critics, I see imitations of Shake- 
speare rather than such resemblances as denote his power- 
ful stamp. The madness of the gaoler's daughter, where 
some have imagined they saw the master-hand, is doubtless 
suggested by that of Ophelia, but with an inferiority of taste 
and feeling which it seems impossible not to recognize. 
The painful and degrading symptom of female insanity, 
which Shakespeare has touched with his gentle hand, is 
dwelt upon by Fletcher with all his innate impurity. Can 
any one believe that the former would have written the last 
scene in which the gaoler's daughter appears on the stage ?" 

In a foot-note Hallam refers to Spalding's Letter, but in- 
timates that he is not convinced by it; and in a later note 
(1847), alluding to Dyce's concurrence with Spalding as 
to the share of Shakespeare in the play, he says : *' The 
hypothesis of a joint production is open to much difficulty, 
which Mr. Dyce hardly removes." 

In April, 1847, a very able paper on this question by Mr, 
S. Hickson was published in the Westminster Review (re- 
printed in the Transactions of the New Shaks. Soc. for 1874, 
p. 25"*^ fol.). The result of his inquiry is summed up thus : 
" It is that the play of The Two Noble Kinsmen is one to 
which Shakespeare possesses a better title than can be 
proved for him to Pericles ; that to him belong its entire 
plan and general arrangement : but that, perhaps for want 
of time to complete it by a day named, and probably by 
way of encouragement to a young writer of some promise, 
he availed himself of the assistance of Fletcher to fill up 
a portion of the outline." Mr. Hickson assigns to Shake- 
speare the whole of act i. except perhaps some 20 or 30 
lines in sc. 2 ; act ii. sc. i ; act iii. sc. i and 2 ; act iv. sc. 3 ; 
and act v. except sc. 2.* It follows that, with the partial 

* Mr. Hickson's and Prof. Spalding's papers are both freely quoted 
in the Notes below. 



INTR OD UC no AT. 



15 



exception of Arcite, every character, even to the Doctor who 
makes his appearance near the end of act iv., was introduced 
by Shakespeare. "We have here then," adds Mr. Hick- 
son, " not only the framework of the play, but the ground- 
work of each character ; in each case we find that Shake- 
speare goes first, and Fletcher follows ; and even then we 
find that the latter is the most successful in the parts where 
he had Chaucer for a guide." 

Fleay (Trans. New Shaks. Soc. 1874, p. 61^, and Manual, 
p. 172) confirms Mr. Hickson's division by metrical tests. 
The two prose scenes (ii. i and iv. 3) he assigns to Shake- 
speare, because " Fletcher never wrote prose in any of his 
plays." In the Shakespeare portion of the verse, the pro- 
portion of lines having double endings is only 10 in 35, 
while in the Fletcher portion it is 10 in 18. The former 
average is exactly that of the latter part of Shakespeare's 
career (the time of the Winter's Tale) ; while the latter ex- 
actly agrees with that deduced from an examination of all 
the undoubted works of Fletcher. Of lines consisting of 
only four feet, there is but one in the Shakespeare portion 
(1124 lines); but in the Fletcher portion (1398 lines) there 
are 19. 

Knight (in the paper from which we quote in the " Criti- 
cal Comments" below) holds that " Fletcher, for the most 
part, wrote the scenes which the best critical opinions con- 
cur in attributing to him ;" and that " he had a coadjutor 
who produced for the most part the scenes attributed to 
Shakspere, but this coadjutor was not Shakspere himself." 
He then attempts to prove that Chapman was the second 
author ; but, so far as we are aware, he has had no follower 
in this opinion. 

Dyce says : " For my own part, I believe that Shakespeare 
wrote all those portions of the play which Mr. Spalding as- 
signs to him, though I conceive that in some places they 
may have been altered and interpolated by Fletcher." 



1 6 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

He thinks that Shakespeare's contributions to the play are 
" stamped everywhere with the manner of his later years," 
but they nevertheless existed before Fletcher's were written 
— "in other words, that the two poets did not work on it 
simultaneously." 

Ward {English Dramatic Literature^ vol. i. p. 466) considers 
that the internal evidence is certainly very strong in favour 
of Dyce's theory ; but he is inclined to think after all that 
the play is mainly if not entirely Fletcher's. " At the most," 
he says, " I should be ready to suppose that Shakspeare aided 
the young dramatist in the opening of the play." 

Skeat, in his edition of The Two Noble Kinsmen (Cam- 
bridge, 1875), accepts Hickson's division of the play as 
" probably right in the main." He adds : " The only scenes 
that seem to me doubtful are iii. 2, iv. 3, and certain parts 
of V. I. These have all been claimed for Shakespeare, but 
I am not convinced about them. But in all the other scenes 
the marks of partnership are sufficiently distinct. It must 
surely be admitted that there were two authors ; that their 
respective portions have been rightly assigned to them ; and 
that one of those authors, the one who had the least to in- 
vent, was Fletcher. The whole of the real conduct of the 
play, the introduction of all the more important characters, 
the beginning and the ending of the piece, are due to a 
greater mind and an abler artist. Why should we hesitate 
to suppose that that artist was Shakespeare ? ... It is easy 
also to see the principle upon which the division of the play 
was made. Shakespeare took the more important share, be- 
gan the play, started all the principal characters, and left 
Fletcher nothing to do but to fill up the easier portions, 
where he had Chaucer to guide him, or else had merely to 
continue what was begun, or lastly, could introduce a morris- 
dance and some countrymen by way of filling a gap. Ob- 
viously, the original division of labour was, that they should 
write the alternate acts ; Shakespeare taking the ist, 3d, and 



INTRO D UCTION, 1 7 

5th acts, and Fletcher the 2d and 4th. This was slightly 
varied in the end, but the principle was not really altered. 
Shakespeare wrote all the ist act, the first and most impor- 
tant part of the 3d act, and all of the 5th act but one scene ; 
but he also helped Fletcher (in all probability) by starting 
the 2d act for him \ which Fletcher repaid by contributing 
a scene to act v." 

After referring to the opinion once held by Knight that 
*' Shakespeare left a portion of the play, which, after his 
death, was completed by Fletcher," Skeat remarks that 
" there is really a sort of truth in it," and adds : " I cannot 
resist the conviction that the play, in the exact form in which 
we have it, was revised by Fletcher (or another ?) after Shake- 
speare's death ; and that he did to some extent, here and 
there, alter some phrases at his pleasure. I think he may 
have done so, for instance, in v. i ; and perhaps the Song at 
the very beginning of the play is such a piece as he might 
have added. The Prologue and Epilogue may be his j or 
indeed, they may hav^e been added by a third person. . . . 
The simple and natural order of things would be somewhat 
of the following description. The authors would roughly 
divide the work, write contemporaneously, fit the scenes to- 
gether, and the play would be acted. In case of repetition 
after an interval of time, nothing would be more natural 
than that it should be to some extent revised ; and for the 
revision, one author would suffice. This is, accordingly, the 
theory which I offer, and which agrees, in the main, with 
the general result of the opinions of most critics. Suppose 
Shakespeare and Fletcher to have written the Two Noble 
Kinsmen in conjunction in 161 2, and the play oiHenry VIII. 
in 1613 ; after which Shakespeare retires from his labours, 
not to live long afterwards. The play proving a favourite 
one — as seems to have been the case — Fletcher revises it, 
not altering much perhaps, but adding a few lines here and 
there ; and at last, after he also is dead, the play is printed 

B 



1 8 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

from an acting copy, representing it in its latest form. This 
will account for all the circumstances of the case, whilst 
merely requiring the supposition that things took their nat- 
ural and easiest course." 

Prof. J. K. Ingram, in a paper read before the New Shak- 
spere Society, Nov. 13, 1874 (see Transactions^ p. 442 fol.), 
says : "The answer to the question, Who was the author of 
the non-Fletcherian portion of the play ? does not force itself 
on my mind with the same clear evidence as the convic- 
tion that the non - Shaksperian part of Henry VIII. is by 
Fletcher. The choice of the story, in which the passion is, 
after all, of an artificial kind, the toleration of the ' trash' 
which abounds in the underplot, the faintness of the char- 
acterization, and, in general, the absence, except in occa- 
sional flashes, of the splendid genius which shows itself all 
through the last period of Shakspere, I have always found 
very perplexing. In reading the (so-called) Shaksperian part 
of the play, I do not often feel myself in contact with a mind 
of the first order. Still, it is certain that there is much in it 
that is like Shakspere, and some things that are worthy of 
him at his best; that the. manner, in general, is more that 
of Shakspere than of any other contemporary dramatist; and 
that the system of verse is one which we do not find in 
any other, whilst it is, in all essentials, that of Shakspere's 
last period. I cannot name any one else who could have 
written this portion of the play. ... If Shakspere be — as 
we seem forced to believe — the author of the part of The 
Two Nodle Kitismen now usually attributed to him, this will 
take its place in the series of his works between the Win- 
ter's Tale and Henry VI W 

Mr. J. Herbert Stack, in a paper printed in the Appendix 
of the New Shaks. Soc. ed. of Spalding's letter (p. 113 fol.), 
takes the ground that the play is not mainly Shakespeare's 
because, though founded on a poem which is "delicate and 
noble," it is itself "coarse and trivial ;" because Shake- 



INTROD UCTION. 



19 



speare never introduces " love between persons of very dif- 
ferent rank" (in the cases of Ophelia and Hamlet, Viola 
and the Duke, Rosalind and Orlando, Helena and Bertram, 
"gentlehood unites all") \ and because of the un- Shake- 
spearian features, like " the cold, coarse balancing of Emilia 
between the two men," the final marriage of the Gaoler's 
Daughter (" as destructive of our sympathy as if Ophelia 
had been saved from drowning by the grave-digger and 
married to Horatio at the end of the piece "), the " poor 
pedantry" of Gerrold, the "forced and feeble fun of the 
rustics," and " the sternness of Theseus brutal and un- 
touched by final gentleness as in Chaucer." Besides, the 
underplot is managed with a clumsiness which is in marked 
contrast to " the skill with which Shakespeare interweaves 
the two plots and brings together the principal and inferior 
personages ;" here the underplot is not interwoven with the 
main plot. " It might be altogether omitted without affect- 
ing the story. Theseus, Emilia, Hippolyta, Arcite, Palamon, 
never exchange a word with the group of Gaoler's Daughter, 
Wooer, Brother, Two Friends, and Doctor." In conclusion, 
Mr. Stack is inclined to the opinion " that Shakespeare 
selected the subject, began the play, wrote many passages, 
had no underplot, and generally left it in a skeleton state ; 
that Fletcher, not Shakespeare, is answerable for all the 
departures from Chaucer, for all the underplot, and for the 
revised play as it stands." 

Furnivall, quoting this last sentence, says ("Leopold" ed. 
p. xcix.) : "This is as far as any one can rightly go, I think. 
My present feeling is to substitute ' some ' for ' many ' in the 
passage above, and to suggest that Beaumont, or some one 
who modelled himself on the run-on lines of Shakspere's 
later time, as Fletcher did on the extra-syllable lines, wrote 
much of the work in this play assigned by Spalding (at first) 
and Hickson to Shakspere." He also remarks (p. xcviii.) : 
"While reading Professor Spalding's enthusiastic and able 



20 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



argument, backed by his well-chosen quotations, it is difficult 
to resist his conclusions. But when you turn to the play 
and read it by yourself or aloud with a party of friends, then 
you begin to doubt. Professor Spalding himself hesitated 
on further reflection, as we have seen. He was from the 
first obliged to admit that in Shakspere's specialty, charac- 
terization, the play was weak. He could not have denied 
that whereas in one part the character of Chaucer's Emilia, 
the huntress seeking no marriage-bed, is rightly seized, in 
another she is turned into a kind of foolish waiting-maid, 
not knowing which of her suitors she loves, and fearing that 
Palamon may be wounded and get his figure spoiled : 

* Arcite may win me, 
And yet may Palamon wound Arcite to 
The spoiling of his figure. Oh, what pity 
Enough for such a chance !' 

If the student accepts the theory of Shakspere's taking any- 
thing like a half share in the play, he must yet allow that 
portions of his work and conception were afterwards spoiled 
by Fletcher. The comparison of Chaucer's Knighfs Tale^ 
the source of the play, with the play itself, is in no way to 
Chaucer's discredit. The fear expressed in the Prologue 
that Chaucer's bones might shake on hearing a possible 
hiss at the play on its first production has a certain justifi- 
cation. That the play opens finely with the woes of the 
three queens, that Palamon's speech in the temple (act v.) 
is very fine, one gladly admits. But there is nothing else 
to match Chaucer's description of the foes engaged in the 
tournament, of the adornments of the building where it was 
held ; nor can the sketch of Emilia in the play be set for 
a minute beside Chaucer's lovely picture of Emilia in the 
garden. The repulsiveness of the under-plot, whose details 
are due to Fletcher, detracts terribly from the effect of the 
play as a whole." 

Mr. Harold Littledale, whose edition of the play (pub- 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

lished by the New Shakspere Society in 1876) is the best 
we have, agrees with Mr. Stack, though " hesitating to ex- 
press a firm opinion on the matter." He suggests that pos- 
sibly Shakespeare "worked on the 1594 play as a basis." 

Mr. Swinburne, in his Study of Shakespeare (London, 
1880), accepts "the masterly decision of Mr. Dyce." In 
the portions of the play ascribed to Shakespeare he sees 
the poet's hand at its best ; but he has no patience with 
" the pestilent abuse and perversion to which Fletcher has 
put the perhaps already superfluous hints or sketches by 
Shakespeare for an episodical under-plot, in his transmuta- 
tion of Palamon's love-stricken and luckless deliverer into 
the disgusting burlesque of a mock Ophelia." 

Mr. Hudson, the most recent editor of the play, adopts 
Hickson's division. He believes that Shakespeare and 
Fletcher worked together here as in Henry VIII. ^ and he 
sees no marked differences of style in the Shakespearian 
portions of the two plays, such as would indicate any wide 
interval in the times of writing, though The Two Noble Kins- 
men may be somewhat the earlier of the two. The non- 
appearance of the present play in the folio of 1623 "may 
well have grown from an arrangement for dividing between 
the authors the fruit of their joint labours." 

For our own part, we wish that the question were as simple 
as in the case of He?iry VIII. , but we do not find it so. We 
were at first ready to agree with Spalding and Hickson — 
with the latter rather than the former on the points as to 
which they differ — but on more careful study of the play, 
we find ourself wavering, as Spalding did, and coming to 
regard the problem as " really insoluble." Shakespeare ap- 
pears to have had a share in the play, but it is impossible 
to decide just what it was, or how it came about. If he and 
Fletcher worked together, as they perhaps did on Henry 
VIII, the date of its composition cannot be far from 1612 ; 
but though the metrical analysis tends to confirm this date, 



22 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

the weightier internal evidence is against it. Even in his 
Letter Spalding admits that in characterization, " Shake- 
speare's special excellence," the play is v^^eak. In this 
respect it reminds us of his earliest rather than his latest 
work. If it really belongs to the period of the Tempest 
and the Winter's Tale and Henry VIII. ^ we see no alterna- 
tive but to suppose (with Dyce, Furnivall, and others) that 
the Shakespearian part has been more or less worked over 
by Fletcher and wofully marred in the operation. 

To say this, however, is not to say that the play is a poor 
one. If it is not worthy to be ranked with Shakespeare's 
latest and best work, it may nevertheless claim a high place 
in the dramatic literature of the time. Professor Spalding 
well says in the Edmburgh Review article (July, 1847) from 
which we have already quoted : 

"Be the authorship whose it may. The T^vo Noble Kins- 
men is undoubtedly one of the finest dramas in the volumes 
before us [Dyce's ed. of Beaumont and Fletcher]. It con- 
tains passages which, in dramatic vigour and passion, yield 
hardly to anything — perhaps to nothing — in the whole col- 
lection ; while for gorgeousness of imagery, for delicacy of 
poetic feeling, and for grace, animation, and strength of lan- 
guage, we doubt whether there exists, under the names of 
our authors, any drama that comes near to it. Never has 
any theme enjoyed the honours which have befallen the 
semi-classical legend of Palamon and Arcite. Chosen as 
the foundation of chivalrous narrative by Boccaccio, Chau- 
cer, and Dryden, it has furnished one of the fairest of the 
flowers that compose the dramatic crown of Fletcher, while 
from that flower, perhaps, leaves might be plucked to dec- 
orate another brow which needs them not. 

" If the admirers of Fletcher could vindicate for him the 
fifth act of this play, they would entitle him to a still higher 
claim upon our gratitude, as the author of a series of scenes 
as picturesquely conceived, and as poetically set forth, as 



INTRO D UCTION. 



23 



any that our literature can boast. Dramatically considered, 
these scenes are very faulty : perhaps there are but two of 
them that have high dramatic merits — the interrupted ex- 
ecution of Palamon, and the preceding scene, in which 
Emilia, left in the forest, hears the tumult of the battle, and 
receives successive reports of its changes and issue. But 
as a gallery of poetical pictures, as a cluster of images sug- 
gestive alike to the imagination and the feelings, as a cabi- 
net of jewels whose lustre dazzles the eye and blinds it to 
the unskilful setting, — in this light there are few pieces com- 
parable to the magnificent scene before the temples, where 
the lady and her lovers pray to the gods ; and the patheti- 
cally solemn close of the drama, admirable in itself, loses 
only when we compare it with the death of Arcite in Chau- 
cer's masterpiece, ' the Iliad of the middle ages.' " 

We may add that, among the German critics, Ulrici ad- 
mits that "the diction has a touch of Shakespeare's style;" 
but considers that the difference between the supposed 
Shakespearian portions and the rest of the play "is not 
sufficiently great to exclude the possibility that a poet of 
such eminent talent as Fletcher might, in one of his earlier 
works (for the play cannot, probably, be dated later than 
about 1608-9), have taken some of Shakespeare's characters 
as his models, and for a time come under Shakespeare's in- 
fluence — as the plagiarism from Hamlet proves ; further, that 
he might even have succeeded in imitating Shakespeare's 
style in single features of diction, nay, that he might even 
have succeeded in striking a tone kindred to Shakespeare's 
own in whole portions of the play. " This, he thinks, is more 
likely than that Shakespeare wrote scenes and whole acts 
which, in substance, stand in direct contradiction to the 
spirit and character of his own compositions."^ 

Gervinus says that Shakespeare may possibly have adapted 

* Shakespeare's Dramatic Art, translated by L. D. Schmitz (3d ed. 
1876), vol. ii. p. 409. 



24 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

the old* play of 1594, and Fletcher, making use of Shake- 
speare's additions, may have remodelled this same old play 
into The Two Noble Kinsmen ; "but that Shakespeare ever 
could have taken a hearty interest in the subject is to be 
denied with the greatest certainty from one single consider- 
ation ; for never have his sound ethics had to do with such 
conventional points of honour in the style of the dramatic 
Romanticists of Spain as those upon which the relation be- 
tween Palamon and Arcite, the two noble cousins (the cen- 
tral point of the whole play), turns." He is therefore "of 
Staunton's opinion, who is as little inclined to impute to 
Shakespeare a share in this as in any other of the plays 
falsely awarded to him,"* 

Ward (vol. i. p. 467) states that H. von Friesen (in Shake- 
speare yahrhich^\Q>\. i., 1865) has also taken the ground that 
Shakespeare could not have been " associated in the pro- 
duction of a play so different from the works of his maturity." 

II. THE SOURCES OF THE PLOT. 

The story of the play, as the prologue states, is taken 
from Chaucer, who gives it in his Knightes Tale. He got it, 
as he acknowledges, from the Teseide of Boccaccio, who calls 
it a very old story (" una antichissima storia "). The names 
in it indicate that it was originally from the Greek (cf. Mr. 
Hales's letter in the London Academy, Jan. 17, 1874). 

It had been dramatized in English twice at least before 
the time of Shakespeare, though there is no ground what- 
ever for supposing that the authors of The Two Noble Kins- 
men were indebted to either of the earlier plays. In 1566 
a drama called Falcemon and Arcyte, by Richard Edwardes, 
was performed before Queen Elizabeth at Oxford. Wood's 
account in the Athence Oxofiie?ises mentions the play several 
times, but the following passages, communicated to Nicholls, 

* Shakeipeare- Commentaries, translated by Bunnett (ed. of 1875), P- 
828. 



INTRODUCTION. 



25 



the historian of Elizabeth's Progresses, by Mr. Giitch, from 
Wood's MSS., are more detailed, and clearly show that Ed- 
wardes's play and the play before us must have differed so 
materially as to make it almost certain that the authors of 
the latter can have known nothing of the former. Part of 
the play was performed on Sept. 2, 1566, when a scaffolding 
fell, and three lives were lost. Wood continues : " Sept. 4, 
1566. At night the Queen was present at the other part 
of the play of Palcemon and Arcyte, which should have been 
acted the night before, but deferred because it was late 
when the Queen came from disputations at St. Mary's. 
When the play was ended, she called for Mr. Edwards, the 
author and gave him very great thanks, with promises of 
reward, for his pains : then making a pause, said to him and 
her retinue standing about her, this relating to part of the 
play: 'By Palaemon, I warrant he dallieth not in love when 
he was in love indeed ; by Arcyte, he was a right martial 
knight, having a sweet countenance, and a manly face ; by 
Trecatio, God's pity, what a knave it is ; by Perithous, 
throwing St. Edward's rich cloak into the funeral fire, which 
a stander-by would have stayed by the arm with an oath, 
he knoweth his part, I warrant' In the said play was 
acted a cry of hounds in the Quadrant, upon the train of a 
fox in the hunting of Theseus, with which the young scholars, 
who stood in the windows, were so much taken (supposing 
it was real), that they cried out, ' Now, now ! — there, there ! 
— he's caught, he's caught !' All which the Queen merrily 
beholding, said, ' O, excellent ! those boys, in very troth, are 
ready to leap out of the windows to follow the hounds !' 
.... In the acting of the said play there was a good 
part performed by the Lady Amelia, who, for gathering her 
flowers prettily in a garden there represented, and singing 
sweetly in the time of March, received eight angels for a 
gracious reward by her Majesty's command," etc. 

Of the other old play we know nothing except (from 



2 6 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Henslowe's Diary) that it was entitled Palamon afid Arstit, 
and was acted several times at the Newington Theatre in 
1594. Collier conjectures that it was based upon the play 
of 1566, and that it was in turn remodelled by Shakespeare, 
who introduced into it the matter afterwards "employed by 
Fletcher in the play as it was printed in 1634;" but this is 
speculating rather wildly on the mere mention of a play in 
a manager's list.* 

The origin of the underplot cannot be traced. There is 
no hint of it in Chaucer, and we have no reason to suppose 
that it came from the play of 1594. It may have been the 
invention of the authors. 

III. CRITICAL COMMENTS ON THE PLAY. 

[From Knight'' s ^^ Pictorial Shakspere.''''\\ 

The Kfiightes Tale of Chaucer opens with the return to 

Athens of the " duke that highte Theseus," after he had 

" conquer'd all the regne of Feminie, 
That whilom was ycleped Scythia, 
And wedded the freshe queen Hypolita, 
And brought her home with him to his countrey 
With muchel glory and great solempnitie, 
And eke her younge sister Emelie." 

The Two Noble Kmsfnen opens with Theseus at Athens, in 
the company of Hippolyta and her sister, proceeding to the 

* Hickson, by the way, ascribes this speculation to Dyce, who quotes 
it from Collier only to condemn it ; and Skeat in turn apparently mis- 
understands Hickson, who, he says, " needlessly assumes that Henslowe 
is here referring to The Two Noble Kinsmen.'''' What Hickson says, 
after finding fault with "Dyce" (that is, Collier) for "arguing upon a 
hypothetical play [Shakespeare's supposed revision of the one men- 
tioned by Henslowe] which, so far as we know, never existed," is this : 
"In Henslowe's Diary we find the following entry: '17 of September, 
1594, ne Rd at palamon and arsett Ijs ;' we have the Ttvo Noble Kinsmen 
before us : and there is not a tittle of evidence besides." 

t Doubtful Flays, etc. (2d ed. 1867), p. 171 fol. We select the passages 
that give the analysis of the play as compared with The Kfiightes Tale. 



INTRODUCTIONr 27 

celebration of his marriage with the "dreaded Amazonian." 
Their bridal procession is interrupted by the 

" three queens, whose sovereigns fell before 
The wrath of cruel Creon." 

In Chaucer the suppliants are a more numerous company. 
As Theseus was approaching Athens, 

" He was ware, as he cast his eye aside, 
Where that there kneeled in the highe way 
A company of ladies tway and tway. 
Each after other, clad in clothes black ; 
But such a cry and such a woe they make, 
That in this world n'is creature living 
That ever heard such another waimenting." 

Briefly they tell their tale of woe, and as rapidly does the 
chivalrous duke resolve to avenge their wrongs : 

" And right anon, withouten more abode. 
His banner he display'd, and forth he rode 
To Thebes ward, and all his host beside." 

The Queen and her sister remained at Athens. Out of this 
rapid narration, which occupies little more than a hundred 
lines in Chaucer, has the first scene of The Two Noble Kins- 
men been constructed. Assuredly, the reader who opens 
that scene for the first time will feel that he has lighted 
upon a work of no ordinary power. The mere interruption 
of the bridal procession by the widowed queens — the con- 
trast of their black garments and their stained veils with the 
white robes and wheaten chaplets and hymeneal songs with 
wdiich the play opens — is a noble dramatic conception ; but 
the poet, whoever he be, possesses that command of appro- 
priate language which realizes all that the imagination can 
paint of a dramatic situation and movement ; there is noth- 
ing shadowy or indistinct, no vague explanations, no trivial 
epithets. When the First Queen says — 



28 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

" Oh, pity, duke ! 
TAou purger of the earth, draw thy fear'd sword, 
That does good turns to the world ; give us the bones 
Of our dead kings, that we may chapel them :" 

we know that the thoughts which belong to her condition are 
embodied in words of no common significancy. When the 
Second Queen, addressing Hippolyta," the soldieress," says — 

" Speak't in a woman's key, like such a woman 
As any of us three ; weep ere you fail ; 
Lend us a knee ; 

But touch the ground for us no longer time 
Than a dove^s motion, when the head'' s plucW d offP 

we feel that the poet not only wields his harmonious lan- 
guage with the decision of a practised artist, but exhibits the 
nicer touches which attest his knowledge of natural feelings, 
and employs images which, however strange and unfamiliar, 
are so true that we wonder they never occurred to us before, 
but at the same time so original that they appear to defy 
copying or imitation. The whole scene is full of the same 
remarkable word-painting. There is another quality which 
it exhibits, which is also peculiar to the highest order of 
minds — the ability to set us thinking — to excite that just 
and appropriate reflection which might arise of itself out of 
the exhibition of deep passions and painful struggles and 
resolute self-denials, but which the true poet breathes into 
us without an effort, so as to give the key to our thoughts, 
but utterly avoiding those sententious moralizings which are 
sometimes deemed to be the province of tragedy. When 
the Queens commend the surrender which Theseus makes 
of his affections to a sense of duty, the poet gives us the 
philosophy of such heroism in a dozen words spoken by 
1 heseus : .< ^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ 

Thus should we do ; being sensually stibdued. 
We lose our hutnan title."" 

The first appearance, in Chaucer, of Palamon and Arcite 



INTRO D UCTION. 



29 



is when they lie wounded on the battle-field of Thebes. In 
The Two Noble Kinsmen the necessary conduct of the story, 
as a drama, requires that the principal personages should be 
exhibited to us before they become absorbed in the main 
action. It is on such occasions as these that a dramatist 
of the highest order makes his characters reveal themselves, 
naturally and without an effort; and yet so distinctly, that 
their individual identity is impressed upon the mind, so as 
to combine with the subsequent movement of the plot. The 
second scene oi The Two Noble Kinsmen appears to us some- 
what deficient in this power. It is written with great energy; 
but the two friends are energetic alike: we do not precisely 
see which is the more excitable, the more daring, the more 
resolved, the more generous. We could change the names 
of the speakers without any material injury to the propriety 
of what they speak. Take, as an opposite example, Hermia 
and Helena, in A Midsummer-Nighf s Dream, where the dif- 
ferences of character scarcely required to be so nicely de- 
fined. And yet in description the author of The Two Noble 
Kinsmen makes Palamon and Arcite essentially different : 

" Arcite is gently visag'd : yet his eye 
Is like an engine bent, or a sharp weapon 
In a soft sheath ; mercy and manly courage 
Are bedfellows in his visage. Palamon 
Has a most menacing aspect ; his brow 
Is grav'd, and seems to bury what it frowns on ; 
Yet sometimes 't is not so, but alters to 
The quality of his thoughts -, long time his eye 
Will dwell upon his object ; melancholy 
Becomes him nobly ; so does Arcite's mirth ; 
But Palamon's sadness is a kind of mirth, 
So mingled, as if mirth did make him sad. 
And sadness, merry ; those darker humours that ^ 

Stick misbecomingly on others, on him 
Live in fair dwelling." 

This is noble writing; and it is quite sufficient to enable the 
stage representation of the two characters to be well defined. 



30 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Omit it, and omit the recollections of it in the reading, and 
we doubt greatly whether the characters themselves realize 
this description ; they are not self-evolved and manifested. 
The third scene, also, is a dramatic addition to the tale of 
Chaucer. It keeps the interest concentrated upon Hippo- 
lyta, and especially Emilia; it is not essential to the action, 
but it is a graceful addition to it. It has the merit, too, of 
developing the character of Emilia, and so to reconcile us 
to the apparent coldness with which she is subsequently 
content to receive the triumphant rival, whichever he be, as 
her husband. The Queen and her sister talk of the friend- 
ship of Theseus and Perithous. Emilia tells the story of her 
own friendship, to prove 

" That the true love 'tween maid and maid may be 
More than in sex dividual." 

This, in some sort, modifies the subsequent position of Emilia, 
" bride-habited, but maiden-hearted." Her description of 
her early friendship has been compared to the celebrated 
passage in A Midsummer- Nighf s Dream : 

" Is all the counsel that we two have shar'd," etc. 

In Chaucer, Theseus makes swift work with Creon and 
with Thebes : 

" With Creon, which that was of Thebes king, 
He fought, and slew him manly as a knight 
In plain bataille, and put his folk to flight ; 
And by assault he won the city after. 
And rent adown both wall, and spar, and rafter ; 
And to the ladies he restor'd again 
The bodies of their husbands that were slain. 
To do th' obsequies, as was then the guise." 

It is in the battle-field that Palamon and Arcite are discov- 
ered wounded : 

*' Not fully quick ne fully dead they were. 
But by their cote-armure and by their gear 
The heralds knew them well in special." 



INTRODUCTION, 31 

The incident is literally followed in the play, where the 
herald says, in answer to the question of Theseus, " They 
are not dead ?" — 

*' Nor in a state of life : had they been taken 
When their last hurts were given, 't was possible 
They might have been recover'd ; yet they breathe, 
And have the name of men." 

In Chaucer, Theseus is to the heroic friends a merciless 

conqueror : 

" He full soon them sent 
To Athenes, for to dwellen in prison 
Perpetual, he n'olde no ransom." 

But in The Two Noble Kinsmen he would appear to exhibit 
himself as a generous foe, who, having accomplished the 
purposes of his expedition, has no enmity with the honest 
defenders of their country : 

" The very lees of such, millions of rates 
Exceed the wine of others ; all our surgeons 
Convent in their behoof; our richest balms, 
Rather than niggard, waste ! their lives concern us 
Much more than Thebes is worth." 

The fifth scene of The Two Noble Kinsmen is a scenic 
expansion of a short passage in Chaucer : 

" But it were all too long for to devise 
The greate clamour and the waimenting 
Which that the ladies made at the brenning 
Of the bodies." 

The epigrammatic ending of the scene is perhaps familiar 
to many : 

" This world's a city, full of straying streets ; 
And death's the market-place, where each one meets." 

Pursuing the plan with which we set out, of following the 
course of Chaucer's story, we pass over all those scenes 
and parts of scenes which may be called the underplot. 



22 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Such in the second act is the beginning of scene i. In 
Chaucer we learn that — 

" in a tow'r, in anguish and in woe, 
Dwellen this Palamon and eke Arcite 
For evermore there may no gold them quite." 

The old romantic poet reserves his dialogue for the real 
business of the story, when the two friends, each seeing Emilia 
from the prison-window, become upon the instant defying 
rivals for her love. This incident is not managed with more 
preparation by the dramatist ; but the prelude to it exhibits 
the two young men consoling each other under their adverse 
fortune, and making resolutions of eternal friendship. . . . 

We are now arrived at a part of the tale where the poetry 
of Chaucer assumes the dramatic form. The description of 
Emilia walking in the garden, the first sight of her by Pala- 
mon, and his imaginative love, the subsequent prostration 
of his heart before the same vision by Arcite — are all told 
with wonderful spirit by the old poet. The entire passage 
is too long for extract, but we give some lines which will 
show that the energy of Chaucer imposed no common task 
of rivalry upon him who undertook to dramatize this scene 
of passion : 

" This Palamon gan knit his browes tway. 
* It were,' quod he, ' to thee no great honour 
For to be false, ne for to be traytour 
To me, that am thy cousin and thy brother 
Ysworn full deep, and each of us to other, 
That never for to dien in the pain. 
Till that the death departen shall us twain, 
Neither of us in love to hinder other, 
Ne in none other case, my leve brother ; 
But that thou shouldest truly further me 
In every case as I should further thee. 
This was thine oath, and mine also, certain ; 
I wot it well, thou dar'st it not withsain : 
Thus art thou of my counsel out of doubt, 
And now thou wouldest falsely been about 



INTRODUCTION. 33 

To love my lady, whom I love and serve, 
And ever shall till that my hearte sterve. 

" * Now certes, false Arcite, thou shalt not so : 
I lov'd her first, and tolde thee my woe 
As to my counsel, and my brother sworn 
To further me as I have told beforn. 
For which thou art ybounden as a knight 
To helpen me, if it lie in thy might, 
Or elles art thou false I dare well say'n.' 

" This Arcita fully proudly spake again. 
* Thou shalt,' quod he, ' be rather false than I, 
And thou art false, I tell thee utterly 
For par amour I lov'd her first ere thou.' " 

It is a remarkable circumstance that one of the conditions 
of the friendship of the young men — the chivalric bond, 

" Neither of us in love to hinder other," — 

SO capable of dramatic expansion, has been passed over by 
the writer of this scene in J'he Two Noble Kinsmen. The 
story is followed in Arcite being freed; but in Chaucer he 
returns to Thebes, and after a long absence comes to the 
court of Theseus in disguise. The unity of time is preserved 
in the drama, by making him a victor in athletic sports, and 
thus introduced to the favour of Theseus and the service of 
Emilia. In Chaucer, Palamon, after seven years' durance, 

" By helping of a friend brake his prison." 

The Gaoler's Daughter is a parasitical growth around the 
old vigorous tree. 

Palamon is fled to the woods. Arcite has ridden to the 
fields to make his May-garland ; and his unhappy friend, 
fearful of pursuit, hears him, unknown, sing — 

" O Maye, with all thy flowres and thy green, 
Right welcome be thou faire freshe May; 
I hope that I some green here getten may." 

The old poet continues, with his inimitable humour : 

C 



34 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

" When that Arcite had roamed all his fill, 
And sungen all the roundel lustily, 
Into a study he fell suddenly, 
As do these lovers in their quainte gears, 
Now in the crop, and now down in the breres. 
Now up, now down, as bucket in a well." 

The lover gives utterance to his lamentations ; his rival 
hears him, and starts out of the bushes with, " False Arcite, 
false traitor!" Arcite proposes that they should determine 
their contention by mortal combat on the following day : 

" Here I will be founden as a knight, 
And bringen harness right enough for thee ; 
And choose the best, and leave the worst for me : 
And meat and drinke this night will I bring." 

The corresponding scene in The Two Noble Kinsmen is 
finely written. There is a quiet strength about it which 
exhibits very high art. . . . The third scene, where Arcite 
comes to Palamon " with meat, wine, and files," is merely 
the carrying out of the action promised in the previous in- 
terview. It is unnecessary for the dramatic movement. . . . 
The combat itself takes place in the sixth scene. The 
passage in Chaucer upon which this scene is founded pos- 
sesses all his characteristic energy. The hard outline which 
it presents is in some degree a natural consequence of its 
force and clearness : 

" And in the grove, at time and place yset, 
This Arcite and this Palamon been met. 
Tho changen gan the colour of their face ; 
Right as the hunter in the regne of Thrace 
That standeth at a gappe with a spear, 
When hunted is the lion or the bear, 
And heareth him come rushing in the greves, 
And breaking both the boughes and the leaves, 
And think'th, ' Here com'th my mortal enemy, 
Withouten fail he must be dead or I ; 
For either I must slay him at the gap. 
Or he must slay me, if that me mishap.' 



INTRODUCTION. 35 

So fareden they in changing of their hue, 
As far as either of them other knew. 
There n'as no good day, ne no sakiing, 
But straight withouten wordes rehearsing, 
Everich of them help to armen other 
As friendly as he were his owen brother ; 
And after that with sharpe speares strong 
They foinden each at other wonder long." 

It is upon the "everich of them help to armen other" that 
the dramatist has founded the interchange of courtesies be- 
tween the two kinsmen. . . . The interruption to the combat 
by Theseus and his train; the condemnation of the rivals 
by the duke ; the intercession of Hippolyta and EmiHa ; 
and the final determination that the knights should depart, 
and within a month return accompanied by other knights 
to contend in bodily strength for the fair prize — these inci- 
dents are founded pretty closely upon Chaucer, with the 
exception that the elder poet does not make Theseus de- 
cree that the vanquished shall die upon the block. The 
scene has no marked deviation in style from that which 
precedes it. 

The supposed interval of time during the absence of the 
knights is filled up by Chaucer with some of the finest 
descriptions which can be found amongst the numberless 
vivid pictures which his writings exhibit. In The Two No- 
ble Kinsmen the whole of the fourth act is occupied with the 
progress of the underplot; with the exception of the second 
scene, which commences with the long and not very dramatic 
soliloquy of Emilia upon the pictures of her two lovers, and 
is followed by an equally undramatic description by a mes- 
senger of the arrival of the princes and of the qualities of 
their companions. This description is founded upon Chaucer. 
We pass on to the fifth act. 

Chaucer has wonderfully described the temples of Venus, 
of Mars, and of Diana. The dramatist has followed him in 
making Arcite address himself to Mars, Palamon to Venus, 



36 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

and Emilia to Diana. Parts of tiiese scenes are without all 
doubt the finest passages of the play, surpassed by very few 
things indeed within their own poetical range. The ad- 
dresses of Arcite to Mars, and of Emilia to Diana, possess 
a condensation of thought, a strength of imagery, and a maj- 
esty of language, almost unequalled by the very highest 
masters of the art ; but they as properly belong to the epic 
as to the dramatic division of poetry. The invocation of 
Palamon to Venus, although less sustained and less pleasing, 
is to our minds more dramatic : it belongs more to romantic 
poetry. The nobler invocations are cast in a classical mould. 
The combat scene is not presented on the stage. The ab- 
sence of it is certainly managed with very great skill. Emilia 
refuses to be present j she is alone ; the tumult is around 
her ; rumour upon rumour is brought to her ; she attempts 
to analyze her own feelings ; and we must say that she 
appears to be thinking more of herself than is consistent 
with a very high conception of female excellence. Arcite is 
eventually the victor. Palamon and his friends appear on 
the scaffold, prepared for death. Then comes the catastrophe 
of Arcite's sudden calamity in the hour of triumph ; and this 
again is description. The death of Arcite is told by Chaucer 
with great pathos; and the address of the dying man to 
Emilia is marked by truth and simplicity infinitely touch- 
ing: 

" What is this world ? what asken men to have ? 
Now with his love, now in his colde grave — 
Alone — withouten any company. 
Farewell, my sweet, farewell, mine Emily ! 
And softe take me in your armes tway 
For love of God, and hearkeneth what I say. 
I have here with my cousin Palamon 
Had strife and rancour many a day agone 
For love of you, and for my jealousy ; 
And Jupiter to wis my soule gie, 
To speaken of a servant properly, 
With alle circumstances truely, 



INTRODUCTION. 37 

That is to say, truth, honour, and knighthead. 

Wisdom, humbless, estate, and high kindred. 

Freedom, and all that longeth to that art, 

So Jupiter have of my soule part, 

As in this world right now ne know I none 

So worthy to be lov'd as Palamon, 

That serveth you, and will do all his life ; 

And if that ever ye shall be a wife, 

Forget not Palamon, the gentle manP 

The dramatic poet falls short of this : 

" Take Emilia, 
And with her all the world's joy. Reach thy hand ; 
Farewell ! I have told my last hour. I was false. 
Yet never treacherous. Forgive me, cousin ! — 
One kiss from fair Emilia ! — 'T is done : 
Take her. I die !" 

\From WariVs '■'■English Dramatic Literature.^'' ^ 
The Two Noble Kinsmen was, according to its publisher 
of 1634 and the opinion of several critics, written conjointly 
by Fletcher and Shakespeare. Sceptical as I remain with 
regard to this statement [cf p. 16 above], I am the more 
anxious to advert to the many beauties of this " tragi-com- 
edy," as it originally appears to have been called, doubtless 
because of its (imperfectly) "happy ending." For the comic 
element is very slight, being in the main confined to a scene 
(iii. 5) which is not without reminiscences both of the Mid- 
summer- Nighf s Dream^ and more particularly of Lovers La- 
bour ^s Lost, the schoolmaster Gerrold being evidently a copy 
of Holofernes. The main story is of course that of Chau- 
cer's Knightes Tale ; but though the divergences in the plot 
are slight, there are other differences of far greater sig- 
nificance. Chaucer's poem was founded on the Teseide of 
Boccaccio ; but it is by no means a translation, for of the 
lines composing it only an eighth or less are said to be 

* A History of English Dramatic Literature, by A. W. Ward, A.M. 
(London, 1875), vol. ii. p. 232. 



33 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



translated from the original. The drama inevitably reduces 
the length in time of the action ; it omits (likewise inevita- 
bly) many of the vivid descriptions of the poem (for exam- 
ple, that of the three temples and much of the tournament), 
and discreetly abbreviates the conduct of the catastrophe. 
The supernatural machinery (skilfully enough interwoven 
with the action by Chaucer) it leaves aside altogether, ex- 
cept in the incidents of the temple scenes (v. 1-3). On the 
other hand, it substitutes for Chaucer's in itself very striking 
description of the two cousins silently arming one another 
for their mutual combat, a most effective dialogue between 
them (iii. 6). What is of more importance, the drama de- 
velops with greater fulness the character of Emily, which 
Chaucer treats rather lightly;"^ and introduces the entirely 
new and exceedingly pathetic character of the Gaoler's 
Daughter, whose unrequited love liberates Palamon from 
prison. The earlier scenes in which the poor child dis- 
closes her hopeless but irresistible love are very touching; 
and her first loss of reason is very powerfully depicted ; 
though afterwards (not to speak of too obvious reminis- 
cences of Ophelia) this episode is drawn out at too great 
length and in the end degraded. The play abounds in 
beauties of detail, and as a whole is a most successful solu- 
tion of the difficult problem of converting an epos into a 
drama, chiefly by the proper means of elaborating the 
characterization. The close is as unsatisfactory in the 
drama as in the poem ; indeed, more so in the former than in 
the latter, for Chaucer's philosophy helps to reconcile us to 
the unequal fates of the two kinsmen as a matter of destiny. 
Palamon should have killed himself over Arcite's corpse, 
and Emily resumed her vows of virginity. 

* In one passage indeed, with a genial cynicism not unusual to him, 
when in a mood of " heresie ayenst the law " of Love : 
" For women, as to speken in commune, 
They folwen all the favour of fortune." 



INTRODUCTION. 39 



^Comments on the Play by F. G. Fleay, M.A.*] 
The composition of this play by Shakespeare and Fletch- 
er was, nearly without error, analyzed by Weber ; though 
his unostentatious work has been eclipsed by that of later 
critics. The correct division is, as I have shown by metri- 
cal tests: Shakespeare — i. 1-5, ii. la (which should, as in 
the old editions, form a separate scenet), iii. i, iv. 3, v. i 
(except lines 1-17, which are Fletcher's, as I ought to have 
pointed out before this), v. 3, 4. Fletcher's scenes are from 
ii. id to ii. 5,$ iii. 2 to iv. 2, v. 2, and the 17 lines mentioned 
above. But it has always been felt that, although the same 
two hands were employed as in Henry VIIL^ the results 
were not correspondent. This residuary problem is not 
soluble by metrical testing : we must have recourse to dif- 
ferent considerations. 

It is clear that this play was printed from a play-house 
manuscript, because in i. 3 there are stage-directions in the 
margin, "2 Hearses ready with Palamon and Arcite; the 
3 Queenes, Theseus and his Lordes ready ;" and again in iii. 
5, "Knock for Schoole," etc. In the Prologue we are also 
told this was a new play. Whatever further indications can 
be found, then, in the quarto as to date will apply to the 
original production, and not to a revival. Now in iv. 2 we 
find "Enter Messenger. Curtis." Curtis was then the name 
of the actor who took the Messenger's part. The only Cur- 
tis known among actors in Fletcher's time is Curtis Gre- 
ville, member of Lady Elizabeth's Players in 1622; of the 
Palsgrave's in the same year ; of the King's in October, 
1626, when Massinger's Roman Actor was performed. This 

* After the preceding pages were in type, this paper was sent us by 
Mr. Fleay, with permission to use it in this edition. 

t We have made it a separate scene in this edition, as Knight, Little- 
dale, and Hudson do. 

} That is, scenes 2-6, according to the numbering of this edition. 



40 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

gives us as date for our play 1623-1626, which agrees with 
Dyce's opinion that Fletcher's part was written at the close 
of his career. But we can get closer than this. 

In August, 1624, the King's Players were in difficulties 
about Middleton's Game of Chess. 

On June 24, 1625, their patent was granted to the King's 
Players by Charles L, on condition that they should not 
perform in London till the number of plague-infested per- 
sons should be less than forty in the week. 

Charles I. had succeeded to the throne on March 27, and 
a cloak, etc., had been distributed to each of the King's 
Players, including three not named in the patent, and fifteen 
in all, clearly the whole company. Greville's name is not 
on this list. 

The last notice of the Palsgrave's Players is on Novem- 
ber 3, 1624. The company probably broke up about the 
time of Charles's accession, and was succeeded by the com- 
pany of the Fortune. Greville would seem to have taken 
the first opportunity of joining the King's Players, perhaps 
immediately after March 27, 1625 ; certainly before Novem- 
ber, 1626. This brings our limits very close. 

Again, the Prologue was clearly one of Fletcher's own 
modest compositions ; for, had it been written after his 
death, there would have been a flourish about him in it 
(compare the prologues to The Elder Brother., Lover's Prog- 
ress, and others written after that event) : and in this Prol- 
ogue we read 

" If this play do not keep 
A little dull time from us, we perceive 
Our losses fall so thick, we needs must leave." 

This is in anticipation of the inhibition to act during the 
prevalence of the plague : the losses were the small at- 
tendance during the sickly time coming just after the trou- 
ble about Middleton's play. They did actually leave Lon- 
don in July because of the plague ; and Fletcher left this 
life in August by the same disease. 



INTRO D UCTION. 



41 



We now get as limits of date March 27, 1625, and June 
24, 1625, Fletcher's last complete play having been licensed 
October 19, 1624. This was Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. 
We are now justified in concluding that as about April, 1625, 
the plague began to threaten, and Greville had not joined 
the company on March 27th, we cannot be wrong in abso- 
lutely fixing the date at about Easter (April 17th). We 
may even guess the day as Easter Monday (April i8th), as 
on that day new plays fi'equently appeared. 

We can now get rid of many difficulties. The play was 
not included in the 1623 folio because it did not exist. 
The editors of that folio were not so careless as is supposed. 
They omitted Pericles., indeed, but how could they help it 
while Rowley and Wilkins, joint authors and owners of 
copyright, were still alive ? ' They omitted Edward III. be- 
cause it is very likely that Shakespeare never claimed his 
share in a play that had been acted, not at a regular the- 
atre, but '' about the city of London " in the plague-year of 
1593. As for this play, I have no doubt they gave it to 
Fletcher to complete, just as they did Timon of Athens to 
Cyril Tourneur, but he did not get it done in time. For 
the care exercised in such cases compare the instance of 
Fletcher's Wild- Goose Chase. 

Among minor matters confirming this conclusion, note 
that the prologue was spoken at Blackfriars ; had Fletcher 
and Shakespeare jointly produced the play on the stage, it 
would have been spoken at the Globe : also the use of the 
title Noble, which was a fashion just coming in at that time. 
Thus Massinger's Bondman was entered as The Noble 
Bondman in December, 1623 j and other instances are 
Massinger's Noble Choice, Fletcher's Noble Gentleman^ the 
Noble Ravishers, Rowley's Noble Spanish Soldier, originally 
entered as the Spanish Soldier, Sharpe's Noble Stranger, and 
Glapthorne's Noble Trial. All these occur between 1623 
and 1636, and in no earlier instance does the word Noble 
occur in a title. 



42 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



Now for the case of Henry VIII. This play was being 
acted in 1613 when the Globe was burned. It was then a 
new play, and the allusions to its second title, "All is True," 
in the prologue written by Fletcher, show that our present 
copy is the one then produced. Fletcher from the latter part 
of 161 1 till the early part of 1613 was writing with Beau- 
mont for the Children of the Revels. Beaumont then ceased 
to write, and Fletcher returned to the King's Company. 
Hence Henry VIII. was probably his first play for them 
after his return. But this also was in all probability not a 
case of joint composition any more than the Kinsmen. Had 
Shakespeare continued to work after 161 1 (the latest date 
for the Wmter's Tale), he would hardly have taken two 
years to finish two plays. He probably began these in 
161 1 (1612 at latest), and for reasons unknown to us gave 
up work suddenly. However this may be, the differences in 
Fletcher's handling of the two plays are fully accounted for 
by the different dates of work. 

I cannot conclude without noticing the epochs marked 
by these plays : the one coincident with the retirement of 
Beaumont, Marston, Chapman, and Shakespeare, the begin- 
ning of Massinger's career, the burning of the Globe, the 
abolition of Whitefriars, the marriage of the Palatine ; the 
other, with the deaths of Rowley, Middleton, and Fletcher, 
the end of the theatrical career of Dekker and Webster, the 
beginning of Ford's, the epoch of many theatrical changes, 
and the accession of a new King. 

Finally, we have in these two plays the very latest work 
of our two most influential dramatists ; the one in all senses 
the great playwright of the stage in Blackfriars, the other the 
still greater poet of the Globe. One marks the end of the 
Silver, the other of the Golden, Age of our theatre : after 
them came the Brazen Age of Ford, Massinger, and Shirley, 
again to be succeeded by the Iron Age of the men of the 
Restoration. 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



DRAMATIS PERSONS. 




Theseus, duke of Athens. 
PiRiTHOus, an Athenian general. 
Artesius, an Athenian captain. 

. ' > nephews to Creon, king of Thebes. 

Arcite, j ^ > o 

Valerius, a Theban nobleman. 

Six Knights. 

A Herald. 

A Gaoler. 

Wooer to the Gaoler's Daughter. 

A Doctor. 

Brother to the Gaoler. 

Friends to the Gaoler. 

A Gentleman. 

Gerrold, a schoolmaster. 

HippoLYTA, bride to Theseus. 

Emilia, her sister. 

Three Queens. 

The Gaoler's Daughter, 

Waiting-woman to Emilia. 

Countrymen, Messengers, a man personating 
Hymen, Boy, Executioners, Guard, and At- 
tendants. Country Wenches, and women per- 
sonating Nymphs. 

Scene: Athe?is and the neighbour- 
hood; and z« part of the first act, " -" - 
Thebes and the tieighbotirhood. - -■ 




^? 'I x.;.-^. 




GRECIAN HORSEMEN. FKOM THE FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON. 



PROLOGUE. 

New plays and maidenheads are near akin ; 

Much follow'd both, for both much money gi'en, 

If they stand sound and well : and a good play, 

Whose modest scenes blush on his marriage-day, 

And shake to lose his honour, is like her 

That, after holy tie and first night's stir. 

Yet still is modesty, and still retains 

More of the maid to sight than husband's pains. 

We pray our play may be so ; for I'm sure 

It has a noble breeder and a pure, 

A learned, and a poet never went 

More famous yet 'twixt Po and silver Trent. 

Chaucer, of all admir'd, the story gives ; 

There constant to eternity it lives. 

If we let fall the nobleness of this. 

And the first sound this child hear be a hiss, 

How will it shake the bones of that good man, 



46 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



And make him cry from under ground, ' O, fan 

From me the witless chaff of such a writer 

That blasts my bays, and my fam'd works makes lighter 20 

Than Robin Hood !' This is the fear we bring ; 

For, to say truth, it were an endless thing, 

And too ambitious, to aspire to him. 

Weak as we are, and almost breathless swim 

In this deep water, do but you hold out 

Your helping hands, and we shall tack about. 

And something do to save us : you shall hear 

Scenes, though below his art, may yet appear 

Worth two hours' travail. To his bones sweet sleep ! 

Content to you ! — If this play do not keep 30 

A little dull time from us, we perceive 

Our losses fall so thick, we needs must leave. \Flourish. 




AN AMAZON. 




ACT I. 

Scene I. Athens. Before a Temple. 

Ejiter Hymen, with a torch burning; a Boy, in a white robe., 
before, singing and strewing flowers ; after Hymen, a Nymph, 

, encompassed in her tresses, bearing a wheaten garland ; then 
Theseus, between two other Nymphs with wheaten chaplets 
on their heads ; then Hippolyta, &he bride, led by Piri- 
THOUS, and another holdhig a garland over her head, her 
tresses likewise hangiftg; after her, Emilia, holding up her 
train; Artesius and Attendants, 



The Song. 

Roses, their sharp spines being gone, 
Not royal in their smells alone. 

But in their hue; 
Maiden pinks, of odour faint, 
Daisies smell-less, yet most quaint, 

And sweet thyme true ; 



{Music. 



48 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Primrose, first-horn child of Ver, 
Merry spring-time's harbinger. 

With her bells dim ; 
Oxlips in their cradles growing, lo 

Marigolds on death-beds blowing. 

Larks'' -heels trim; 

All dear Nature^ s children sweet. 
Lie fore bride and bridegroom'' s feet. 

Blessing their sense I [Strewing flowers. 
Not an angel of the air. 
Bird melodious, or bird fair, 

Be absent hence I 

The crow, the- slanderous cuckoo, nor 

The boding raven, nor chough hoar, 20 

Nor chattering pie. 
May on our bride- house perch or sing. 
Or with the7tt any discord bring, 

But from it fly / 

Enter three Queens, iti black, with veils stained, and with im- 
perial crowns. The First Queen falls down at the foot of 
Theseus; the Second falls down at the foot of Hifvoj^yta ; 
the Third before Emilia. 

1 Queen. For pity's sake and true gentility's, 
Hear and respect me ! 

2 Queen. For your mother's sake, 
And as you wish yourself may thrive with fair ones, 
Hear and respect me ! 

3 Queen. Now for the love of him whom Jove hath 

mark'd 
The honour of your bed, and for the sake 30 

Of clear virginity, be advocate 
For us, and our distresses ! This good deed 



ACT /. SCENE I. 49 

Shall raze you out o' the book of trespasses 
All you are set down there. 

Theseus. Sad lady, rise. 

Hippolyta. Stand up. 

Emilia. No knees to me ! 

What woman I may stead that is distress'd 
Does bind me to her. 

Theseus. What 's your request? Deliver you for all. 

I Queen. We are three queens, whose sovereigns fell 
before 
The wrath of cruel Creon , who endure 40 

The beaks of ravens, talons of the kites, 
And pecks of crows, in the foul fields of Thebes. 
He will not suffer us to burn their bones. 
To urn their ashes, nor to take the offence 
Of mortal loathsomeness from the blest eye 
Of holy Phoebus, but infects the winds 
With stench of our slain lords. O, pity, duke! 
Thou purger of the earth, draw thy fear'd sword. 
That does good turns to the world; give us the bones 
Of our dead kings, that we may chapel them ! 50 

And, of thy boundless goodness, take some note 
That for our crowned heads we have no roof 
Save this, which is the lion's and the bear's, 
And vault to everything ! 

Theseus. Pray you, kneel not; 

I was transported with your speech, and suffer'd 
Your knees to wrong themselves. I have heard the fortunes 
Of your dead lords, which gives me such lamenting 
As wakes my vengeance and revenge for 'em. 
King Capaneus was your lord: the day 
That he should marry you, at such a season 60 

As now it is with me, I met your groom 
By Mars's altar; you were that time fair, 
Not Juno's mantle fairer than your tresses, 

D . 



so 



THE TWO ATOBLE KINSMEN. 



Nor in more bounty spread her; your wheaten wreath 

Was then nor thresh'd nor blasted; Fortune at you 

Dimpled her cheek with smiles ; Hercules our kinsman — 

Then weaker than your eyes — laid by his club; 

He tumbled down upon his Nemean hide, 

And swore his sinews thaw'd. O grief and time, 

Fearful consumers, you will all devour ! 70 

1 Queen. O, I hope some god, 

Some god hath put his mercy in your manhood, 
Whereto he '11 infuse power, and p^ess you forth 
Our undertaker ! 

Theseus. O, no knees, none, widow! 

Unto the helmeted Bellona use them. 
And pray for me, your soldier. — 
Troubled I am. \Turns away. 

2 Queen. Honour'd Hippolyta, 
Most dreaded Amazonian, that hast slain 

The scythe-tusk'd boar; that, with thy arm as strong 

As it is white, wast near to make the male 80 

To thy sex captive, but that this thy lord — 

Born to uphold creation in that honour 

First nature styl'd it in — shrunk thee into 

The bound thou wast o'erflowing, at once subduing 

Thy force and thy affection ; soldieress, 

That equally canst poise sternness with pity; 

Who now, I know, hast much more power -on him 

Than e'er he had on thee ; who ow'st his strength 

And his love too, who is a servant for 

The tenour of thy speech ; dear glass of ladies, 90 

Bid him that we, whom flaming war doth scorch, 

Under the shadow of his sword may cool us ; 

Require him he advance it o'er our heads. 

Speak 't in a woman's key, like such a woman 

As any of us three ; weep ere you fail ; 

Lend us a knee ; 



ACT I. SCENE I. 



51 



But touch the ground for us no longer time 

Than a dove's motion when the head 's pluck'd off; 

Tell him, if he i' the blood-siz'd field lay swoln, 

Showing the sun his teeth, grinning at the moon, 100 

What you would do! 

Hippolyta. Poor lady, say no more; 

I had as lief trace this good action with you 
As that whereto I 'm going, and ne'er yet 
Went I so willing way. My lord is taken 
Heart-deep with your distress: let him consider; 
I '11 speak anon. 

3 Queen. O, my petition was [Kneels to Emilia. 

Set down in ice, which, by hot grief uncandied, 
Melts into drops; so sorrow, wanting form, 
Is press'd with -deeper matter. 

Emilia. Pray stand up; 

Your grief is written in your cheek. 

3 Queen. O, woe ! no 

You cannot read it there;, there, through my tears. 
Like wrinkled pebbles in a glassy stream. 
You may behold 'em ! Lady, lady, alack. 
He that will all the treasure know o' the earth, 
Must know the centre too; he that will fish 
For my least minnow, let him lead his line 
To catch one at my heart. O, pardon me! 
Extremity, that sharpens sundry wits, 
Makes me a fool. 

Emilia. Pray you, say nothing, pray you ; 

Who cannot feel nor see the rain, being in 't, «o 

Knows neither wet nor dry. If that you were 
The ground-piece of some painter, I would buy you, 
T' instruct me 'gainst a capital grief indeed, — 
Such heart-pierc'd demonstration ! — but, alas, 
Being a natural sister of our sex. 
Your sorrow beats so ardently upon me, 



52 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



That it shall make a counter-reflect 'gainst 
My brother's heart, and warm it to some pity- 
Though it were made of stone; pray have good comfort! 

Theseus. Forward to the temple! leave not out a jot 130 
O' the sacred ceremony. 

1 Queen. O, this celebration 
Will longer last, and be more costly, than 

Your suppliants' war! Remember that your fame 
Knolls in the ear o' the world. What you do quickly 
Is not done rashly; your first thought is more 
Than others' labour'd meditance; your premeditating 
More than their actions ; but — O Jove ! — your actions, 
Soon as they move, as ospreys do the fish. 
Subdue before they touch. Think, dear duke, think 
What beds our slain kings have! 

2 Queen. What griefs our beds, 
That our dear lords have none! 

3 Queen. None fit for the dead ! mi 
Those that, with cords, knives, drams, precipitance, 
Weary of this world's light, have to themselves 

Been death's most horrid agents, human grace 
Afibrds them dust and shadow — 

I Quee7i. But our lords 

Lie blistering fore the visitating sun, 
And were good kings when living. 

Theseus. It is true : 

And I will give you comfort, 
To give your dead lords graves ; the which to do 
Must make some work with Creon. 150 

I Queen. And that work now presents itself to the 
doing; 
Now 't will take form ; the heats are gone to-morrow. 
Then bootless toil must recompense itself 
With it's own sweat; now he 's secure. 
Not dreams we stand before your puissance, 



ACT I. SCENE I. 



53 



Rinsing our holy begging in our eyes, 
To make petition clear. 

2 Queen. Now you may take him, 
Drunk with his victory — 

3 Queen. And his army full 
Of bread and sloth. 

Theseus. Artesius, that best know'st 

How to draw out, fit to this enterprise, i6a 

The prim'st for this proceeding, and the number 
To carry such a business, forth and levy 
Our worthiest instruments; whilst we despatch 
This grand act of our life, this daring deed 
Of fate in wedlock ! 

1 Queen. Dowagers, take hands ! 
Let us be widows to our woes! Delay 
Commends us to a famishing hope. 

All the Queens. Farewell! 

2 Queen. We come unseasonably; but when could grief 
Cull forth, as unpang'd judgment can, fitt'st time 

For best solicitation "i 

Theseus. Why, good ladies, 170 

This is a service, whereto I am going, 
Greater than any war; it more imports me 
Than all the actions that I have foregone, 
Or futurely can cope. 

I Queen. The more proclaiming 

Our suit shall be neglected. When her arms. 
Able to lock Jove from a synod, shall 
By warranting moonlight corslet thee, O, when 
Her twinning cherries shall their sweetness fall 
Upon thy tasteful lips, what wilt thou think 
Of rotten kings or blubber'd queens? what care iSo 

For what thou feel'st not, what thou feel'st being able 
To make Mars spurn his drum ? O, if thou couch 
But one night with her, every hour in 't will 



^4 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Take hostage of thee for a hundred, and 
Thou shalt remember nothing more than what 
That banquet bids thee to ! 

Hippolyta. {Kneeling to Theseus) Though much unlike 
You should be so transported, as much sorry 
I should be such a suitor, yet I think, 
Did I not, by the abstaining of my joy, 

Which breeds a deeper longing, cure their surfeit 19° 

That craves a present medicine, I should pluck 
All ladies' scandal on me. Therefore, sir, 
As I shall here make trial of my prayers, 
Either presuming them to have some force. 
Or sentencing for aye their vigour dumb. 
Prorogue this business we are going about, and hang 
Your shield afore your heart, about that neck 
Which is my fee, and which I freely lend 
To do these poor queens service. 

All Queens. O, help now! \To Emilia. 

Our cause cries for your knee. 

Emilia. {Kfieeling to Theseus) If you grant not 200 

My sister her petition, in that force. 
With that celerity and nature, which 
She makes it in, from henceforth I '11 not dare 
To ask you any thing, nor be so hardy 
Ever to take a husband. 

Theseus. Pray stand up! 

\Hippolyta and Emilia rise. 
I am entreating of myself to do 
That which you kneel to have me. — Pirithous, 
Lead on the bride. Get you and pray the gods 
For success and return; omit not anything 
In the pretended celebration. — Queens, zro 

Follow your soldier. — As before, hence you, [to.ArtesiUs. 
And at the banks of Aulis meet us with 
The forces you can raise, where we shall find 



ACT I. SCENE IT. 55 

The moiety of a number, for a business 

More bigger look'd. — {To Hippolytd) Since that our theme 

is haste. 
I stamp this kiss upon thy currant lip ; 
Sweet, keep it as my token ! — {To Artesius) Set you forward ; 
For I will see you gone. — \Exit Artesius. 

Farewell, my beauteous sister! — Pirithous, 
Keep the feast full ; bate not an hour on 't ! 

Pirithous. Sir, 220 

I '11 follow you at heels; the feast's solemnity 
Shall v/ant till your return. 

Theseus. Cousin, I charge you, 

Budge not from Athens; we shall be returning 
Ere you can end this feast, of which, I pray you. 
Make no abatement. — Once more, farewell all! 

\Hippolyta^ Emilia, Pirithous, Hymen, Boy, 
Nymphs, and Attendants enter the temple. 

1 Queen. Thus dost thou still make good 
The tongue o' the world — 

2 Queen. And earn'st a deity 
Equal with Mars — 

3 Queen. If not above him ; for, 
Thou, being but mortal, mak'st affections bend 

To godlike honours ; they themselves, some say, 230 

Groan under such a mastery. 

Theseus. As we are men, 

Thus should we do; being sensually subdued, 
We lose our human title. Good cheer, ladies! 
Now turn we towards your comforts. \Flourish. Exeunt. 

Scene II. Thebes. The Court of the Palace. 
Enter Palamon and Arcite. 
Arcite. Dear Palamon, dearer in love than blood. 
And our prime cousin, yet unharden'd in 



-5 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

The crimes of nature, let us leave the city, 

Thebes, and the temptings in 't, before we further 

Sully our gloss of youth : 

And here to keep in abstinence we shame 

As in incontinence ; for not to swim 

I' the aid o' the current were almost to sink, 

At least to frustrate striving ; and to follow 

The common stream, 't would bring us to an eddy lo 

Where we should turn or drown ; if labour through, 

Our gain but life and weakness. 

Palamon. Your advice 

Is cried up with example. What strange ruins. 
Since first we went to school, may we perceive 
Walking in Thebes ! scars and bare weeds, 
The gain o' the martialist, who did propound 
To his bold ends honour and golden ingots, 
AVhich, though he won, he had not; and now flurted 
By Peace, for whom he fought ! Who then shall offer 
To Mars's so-scorn'd altar.? I do bleed 20 

When such I meet, and wish great Juno would 
Resume her ancient fit of jealousy. 
To get the soldier work, that Peace might purge 
For her repletion, and retain anew 
Her charitable heart, now hard, and harsher 
Than strife or war could be. 

Arcite. Are you not out ? 

Meet you no ruin but the soldier in 
The cranks and turns of Thebes ? You did begin 
As if you met decays of many kinds; 

Perceive you none that do arouse your pity 30 

But the unconsidered soldier? 

Palamon. Yes; I pity 

Decays where'er I find them; but such most 
That, sweating in an honourable toil, 
Are paid with ice to cool 'em. 



ACT I. SCENE IL 



57 



Arcite. 'T is not this 

I did begin to speak of; this is virtue 
Of no respect in Thebes. I spake of Thebes, 
How dangerous, if we will keep our honours, 
It is for our residing; where every evil 
Hath a good colour; where every seeming good 's 
A certain evil; where not to be even jump 40 

As they are here, were to be strangers, and 
Such things to be mere monsters. 

Palamon. It is in our power — 

Unless we fear that apes can tutor 's — to 
Be masters of our manners. What need I 
Affect another's gait, which is not catching 
Where there is faith ? or to be fond upon 
Another's way of speech, when by mine own 
I may be reasonably conceiv'd, sav'd too, 
Speaking it truly .'* Why am I bound 

By any generous bond to follow him 50 

Follows his tailor, haply so long until 
The follow'd make pursuit? Or let me know 
Why mine own barber is unbless'd, with him 
My poor chin too, for 't is not scissar'd just 
To such a favourite's glass ? What canon is there 
That does command my rapier from my hip, 
To dangle 't in my hand, or to go tip-toe 
Before the street be foul ? Either I am 
The fore-horse in the team, or I am none 
That draw i' the sequent trace. These poor slight sores 60 
Need not a plantain ; that which rips my bosom, 
Almost to the heart, 's — 

Arcite. Our uncle Creon. 

Palamon. He, 

A most unbounded tyrant, whose successes 
Makes heaven unfear'd, and villany assur'd 
Beyond its power there 's nothing; almost puts 



58 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



Faith in a fever, and deifies alone 

Voluble cliance; who only attributes 

The faculties of other instruments 

To his own nerves and act; commands men's service, 

And what they win in 't, boot and glory; one 70 

That fears not to do harm, good dares not. Let 

The blood of mine that 's sib to him be suck'd 

From me with leeches ! let them break and fall 

Off me with that corruption ! 

Arcite. Clear-spirited cousin, 

Let 's leave his court, that we may nothing share 
Of his loud infamy; for our milk 
Will relish of the pasture, and we must 
Be vile or disobedient, not his kinsmen 
In blood unless in quality. 

Palamon. Nothing truer ! 

I think the echoes of his shames have deaf 'd 80 

The ears of heavenly justice ; widows' cries 
Descend again into their throats, and have not 
Due audience of the gods. — Valerius ! 

Enter Valerius. 

Valerius. The king calls for you ; yet be leaden-footed 
Till his great rage be off him. Phoebus, when 
He broke his whipstock and exclaim'd against 
The horses of the sun, but whisper'd, to 
The loudness of his fury. 

Palamon. Small winds shake him; 

But what 's the matter ? 

Valerius. Theseus — who, where he threats, appals — hath 
sent 90 

Deadly defiance to him, and pronounces 
Ruin to Thebes; who is at hand to seal 
The promise of his wrath. 

Arcite. Let him approach ! 



ACT I. SCENE III. 59 

But that we fear the gods in him, he brings not 
A jot of terror to us ; yet what man 
Thirds his own worth — the case is each of ours — 
When that his action 's dregg'd with mind assur'd 
'T is bad he goes about ? 

Palamon. Leave that unreason'd ; 

Our services stand now for Thebes, not Creon. 
Yet to be neutral to him were dishonour, loo 

Rebellious to oppose ; therefore we must 
With him stand to the mercy of our fate, 
Who hath bounded our last minute. 

A r cite. So we must. — 

Is 't said this war 's afoot ? or it shall be, 
On fail of some condition ? 

Valerius. 'T is in motion ; 

The intelligence of state came in the instant 
With the defier. 

Palamon. Let 's to the king, who, were he 

A quarter carrier of that honour which 
His enemy comes in, the blood we venture 
Should be as for our health; which were not spent, no 

Rather laid out for purchase : but, alas. 
Our hands advanc'd before our hearts, what will 
The fall o' the stroke do damage ? 

Arcite. Let the event, 

That never-erring arbitrator, tell us 
When we know all ourselves; and let us follow 
The becking of our chance. \Exeunt. 

Scene III. Before the Gates of Athens. 

Enter Pirithous, Hippolyta, and Emilia. 

Pirithous. No further ! 

Hippolyta. Sir, farewell ! Repeat my wishes 

To our great lord, of whose success I dare not 



5o THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Make any timorous question ; yet I wish him 
Excess and overflow of power, an 't miglit be, 
To dare ill-dealing fortune. Speed to him ; 
Store never hurts good governors. 

Firithous. Though I know 

His ocean needs not my poor drops, yet they 
Must yield their tribute there. — My precious maid, 
Those best affections that the heavens infuse f^ 

In their best-temper'd pieces keep enthron'd ' lo 

In your dear heart ! , 

Emilia. Thanks, sir. Remember me 

To our all-royal brother, for whose speed 
The great Bellona I '11 solicit ; and 
Since, in our terrene state, petitions are not 
Without gifts understood, I '11 offer to her 
What I shall be advis'd she likes. Our hearts 
Are in his army, in his tent. 

Hippolyta. In 's bosom ! 

We have been soldiers, and we cannot weep 
When our friends don their helms or put to sea, 
Or tell of babes broach'd on the lance, or women 20 

That have sod their infants in — and after eat them — 
The brine they wept at killing 'em ; then if 
You stay to see of us such spinsters, we 
Should hold you here for ever. 

Pirithoiis. Peace be to you, 

As I pursue this war ! which shall be then 
Beyond further requiring. \Exit. 

Emilia. How his longing 

Follows his friend ! Since his depart his sports, 
Though craving seriousness and skill, pass'd slightly 
His careless execution, where nor gain 

Made him regard, or loss consider; but 30 

Playing one business in his hand, another 
Directing in his head, his mind nurse equal 



ACT I. SCENE III. 6 1 

To these so differing twins. Have you observ'd him 
Since our great lord departed ? 

Hippolyta. With much labour, 

And I did love him for 't. They two have cabin'd 
In many as dangerous as poor a corner, 
Peril and want contending; they have skiif'd 
Torrents, whose roaring tyranny and power 
I' the least of these was dreadful ; and they have 
Fought out together, where death's self was lodg'd, 40 

Yet fate hath brought them off. Their knot of love 
Tied, weav'd, entangled, with so true, so long, 
And with a finger of so deep a cunning, 
May be outworn, never undone. I think 
Theseus cannot be umpire to himself, 
Cleaving his conscience into twain, and doing 
Each side like justice, which he loves best. 

Emilia. Doubtless 

There is a best, and reason has no manners 
To say it is not you. I was acquainted 
Once with a time, when I enjoy'd a playfellow; 50 

You were at wars when she the grave enrich'd. 
Who made too proud the bed, took leave o' the moon — 
Which then look'd pale at parting — when our count 
Was each eleven. 

Hippolyta. 'T was Flavina. 

Emilia. Yes. 

You talk of Pirithous' and Theseus' love : 
Theirs has more ground, is more maturely seasoned, 
More buckled with strong judgment, and their needs 
The one of th' other may be said to water 
Their intertangled roots of love; but I 

And she I sigh and spoke of were things innocent, 60 

Lov'd for we did, and, like the elements 
That know not what nor why, yet do effect 
Rare issues by their operance, our souls 



62 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Did so to one another. What she lik'd, 

Was then of me approv'd; what not, condemn'd, 

No more arraignment. The flower that I would pluck 

And put between my breasts — then but beginning 

To swell about the blossom — she would long 

Till she had such another, and commit it 

To the like innocent cradle, where phcenix-like 70 

They died in perfume. On my head no toy 

But was her pattern ; her affections — pretty, 

Though happily her careless wear — I follow'd 

For my most serious decking. Had mine ear 

Stol'n some new air, or at adventure humm'd one 

From musical coinage, why, it was a note 

Whereon her spirits would sojourn — rather dwell on — 

And sing it in her slumbers. This rehearsal — 

Which, every innocent wots well, comes in 

Like old importment's bastard — has this end, 80 

That the true love 'tween maid and maid may be 

More than in sex dividual. 

Hippolyta. You 're out of breath ; 

And this high-speeded pace is but to say. 
That you shall never, like the maid Flavina, 
Love any that 's call'd man. 

Emilia. I am sure I shall not. 

Hippolyta. Now, alack, weak sister, 
I must no more believe thee in this point — • 
Though in 't I know thou dost believe thyself — 
Than I will trust a sickly appetite, 

That loathes even as it longs. But sure, my sister, ^o 

If I were ripe for your persuasion, you 
Have said enough to shake me from the arm 
Of the all-noble Theseus; for whose fortunes 
I will now in and kneel, with great assurance, 
That we, more than his Pirithous, possess 
The high throne in his heart. 



ACT I. SCENE IV. 63 

Emilia. I am not 

Against your faith ; yet I continue mine. [Exeunt. 



Scene IV". A Field before Thebes. 
Cornets. A battle struck within; then a retreat; then a flour- 
ish. Then enter Theseus, victor; the three Queens meet 
him, and fall on their faces before him. 

1 Queen. To thee no star be dark ! 

2 Queen. Both heaven and earth 
Friend thee for ever ! 

3 Queen. All the good that may 
Be wish'd upon thy head, I cry amen to 't ! 

Theseus. The impartial gods, who from the mounted heavens 
View us their mortal herd, behold who err, 
And in their time chastise. Go and find out 
The bones of your dead lords, and honour them 
With treble ceremony. Rather than a gap 
Should be in their dear rites, we would supply 't. 
But those we will depute which shall invest 10 

You in your dignities, and even each thing 
Our haste does leave imperfect. So adieu, 
And heaven's good eyes look on you ! — What are those ? 

\Exeunt Queens. 

Herald. Men of great quality, as may be judg'd 
By their appointment; some of Thebes have told 's 
They are sisters' children, nephews to the king. 

Theseus. ^^ the helm of Mars, I saw them in the war, 
Like to a pair of lions smear'd with prey. 
Make lanes in troops aghast; I fix'd my note 
Constantly on them, for they were a mark 20 

Worth a god's view. What was 't that prisoner told me, 
When I inquir'd their names } 

Herald. We learn, they're call'd 

Arcite and Palamon. 



64 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Theseus. 'T is right ; those, those. 

They are not dead ?. 

Herald. Nor in a state of Hfe : had they been taken 
When their last hurts were given, 't was possible 
They might have been recover'd; yet they breathe, 
And have tlie name of men. 

Theseus. Then Uke men use 'em ; 

The very lees of such, millions of rates 

Exceed the wine of others. All our surgeons 30 

Convent in their behoof; our richest balms, 
Rather than niggard, waste : their lives concern us 
Much more than Thebes is worth. Rather than have 'em 
Freed of this plight, and in their morning state, 
Sound and at liberty, I would 'em dead ; 
But, forty thousand fold, we had rather have 'em 
Prisoners to us than death. Bear 'em speedily 
From our kind air — to them unkind — and minister 
What man to man may do; for our sake, more: 
Since I have known fight's fury, friends' behests, 40 

Love's provocations, zeal, a mistress' task, 
Desire of liberty, a fever, madness. 
Hath set a mark — which nature could not reach to 
Without some imposition — , sickness in will, 
Or wrestling strength in reason. For our love 
And great Apollo's mercy, all our best 
Their best skill tender! — Lead into the city; 
Where having bound things scatter'd, we will post 
To Athens fore our army. \Flourish. Exeunt. 




ACT I. SCENE V. 6$ 



Scene V. Another Fart of the Field. 

Enter the Queens with the hearses of their husbands in a 
funeral solemnity^ etc. 

Song. 

Urns a?id odours bring away I 

Vapours^ sighs, darken the day / 
Our dole more deadly looks than dying; 

Balms, and gmns, and heavy cheers, 

Sacred vials fiWd with tears, 
And clamours through the wild air flying! 

Come, all sad and solemn shows. 

That are quick-eyed pleasure' s foes ! 

We co?ive?it nought else but woes. 

We conve7it, etc. lo 

3 Queen. This funeral path brings to your household's 
grave. 
Joy seize on you again ! Peace sleep with him ! 

2 Queen. And this to yours ! 

I Queen. Yours this way ! Heavens lend 

A thousand differing ways to one sure end ! 

3 Queen. This world 's a city full of straying streets, 
And death 's the market-place, where each one meets. 

\Exeunt severally. 




E 




- ^:-^^""'i£i^.-^ 



EMILIA AND HER WAITING-WOMAN. 



ACT 11. 

Scene I. Athens. A Garden, with a Castle in the back- 
ground. 

Enter Gaoler and Wooer. 

Gaoler. I may depart with little, while I live ; something 
I may cast to you, not much. Alas, the prison I keep, 
though it be for great ones, yet they seldom come ; before 
one salmon, you shall take a number of minnows. I am 
given out to be better lined than it can appear to me report 
is a true speaker ; I would I were really that I am delivered 
to be ! Marry, what I have — be it what it will — I will assure 
upon my daughter at the day of my death. 

Wooer. Sir, I demand no more than your own ofifer; and 
I will estate your daughter in what I have promised. lo 



ACT 11. SCENE I. 67 

Gaoler. Well, we will talk more of this when the solem- 
nity is past. But have you a full promise of her ? When 
that shall be seen, I tender my consent. 

Wooer. I have, sir. Here she comes. 

Enter Gaoler's Daughter, with rushes. 

Gaoler. Your friend and I have chanced to name you 
here, upon the old business: but no more of that now. So 
soon as the court-hurry is over, we will have an end of it. I* 
the mean time, look tenderly to the two prisoners. I can 
tell you they are princes. ig 

Daughter. These strewings are for their chamber. 'T is 
pity they are in prison, and 't were pity they should be out. 
I do think they have patience to make any adversity ashamed ; 
the prison itself is proud of 'em, and they have all the world 
in their chamber. 

Gaoler. They are famed to be a pair of absolute men. 

Daughter. By my troth, I think fame but stammers 'em ; 
they stand a grise above the reach of report. 

Gaoler. I heard them reported in the battle to be the only 
doers. 29 

Daughter. Nay, most likely; for they are noble sufferers. 
I marvel how they would have looked, had they been vic- 
tors, that with such a constant nobility enforce a freedom 
out of bondage, making misery their mirth, and affliction a 
toy to jest at. 

Gaoler. Do they so "i 

Daughter. It seems to me, they have no more sense of 
their captivity, than I of ruling Athens ; they eat well, look 
merrily, discourse of many things, but nothing of their own 
restraint and disasters. Yet sometime a divided sigh, mar- 
tyred as 't were i' the deliverance, will break from one of 
them ; when the other presently gives it so sweet a rebuke, 
that I could wish myself a sigh to be so chid, or at least a 
sigher to be comforted. 43 



68 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Wooer. I never saw 'em. 

Gaoler. The duke himself came privately in the night, 
and so did they; what the reason of it is, I know not. — 
\Palainon and Arcite appear at a window^ above\ Look, yon- 
der they are ! that 's Arcite looks out. 

Daughter. No, sir, no; that's Palamon. Arcite is the 
lower of the twain ; you may perceive a part of him. 50 

Gaoler. Go to, leave your pointing ! They would not 
make us their object ; out of their sight ! 

Daughter. It is a holiday to look on them ! Lord, the 
difference of men ! [Exeunt. 

Scene 1 1. A Room in the Prison. 
Enter Palamon and Arcite. 

Palamofi. How do you, noble cousin ? 

Arcite. How do you, sir ? 

Palamon. Why, strong enough to laugh at misery. 
And bear the chance of war yet. We are prisoners 
I fear for ever, cousin. 

Arcite. I believe it; 

And to that destiny have patiently 
Laid up my hour to come. 

Palamon. O, cousin Arcite, 

Where is Thebes now? where is our noble country? 
Where are our friends and kindreds ? Never more 
Must we behold those comforts ; never see 
The hardy youths strive for the games of honour, 10 

Hung with the painted favours of their ladies. 
Like tall ships under sail ; then start amongst 'em, 
And, as an east wind, leave 'em all behind us 
Like lazy clouds, whilst Palamon and Arcite, 
Even in the wagging of a wanton leg, 
Outstripp'd the people's praises, won the garlands, 
Ere they have time to wish 'em ours. O, never 



ACT II. SCENE II. 69 

Shall we two exercise, like twins of honour, 

Our arms again, and feel our fiery horses 

Like proud seas under us ! Our good swords now — 20 

Better the red-eyed god of war ne'er wore — 

Ravish'd our sides, like age, must run to rust, 

And deck the temples of those gods that hate us ; 

These hands shall never draw 'em out like lightning, 

To blast whole armies, more ! 

Arcite. No, Palamon, 

Those hopes are prisoners with us : here we are, 
And here the graces of our youths must wither, 
Like a too-timely spring \ here age must find us, 
And, which is heaviest, Palamon, unmarried ; 
The sweet embraces of a loving wife, 30 

Loaden with kisses, arm'd with thousand Cupids, 
Shall never clasp our necks; no issue know us. 
No figures of ourselves shall we e'er see, 
To glad our age, and like young eagles teach 'em 
Boldly to gaze against bright arms, and say, 
* Remember what your fathers were, and conquer !' 
The fair-eyed maids shall weep our banishments. 
And in their songs curse ever-blinded Fortune, 
Till she for shame see what a wrong she has done 
To youth and nature. This is all our world j 40 

We shall know nothing here but one another. 
Hear nothing but the clock that tells our woes ; 
The vine shall grow, but we shall never see it; 
Summer shall come, and with her all delights, 
But dead-cold winter must inhabit here still. 

Palamon. 'T is too true, Arcite. To our Theban hounds. 
That shook the aged forest with their echoes, 
No more now must we halloo; no more shake 
Our pointed javelins, whilst the angry swine 
Flies like a Parthian quiver from our rages, 50 

Stuck with our well-steel'd darts ! All valiant uses — 



70 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

The food and nourishment of noble minds — 
In us two here shall perish ; we shall die — 
Which is the curse of honour — lazily, 
Children of grief and ignorance. 

Arcite. Yet, cousin. 

Even from the bottom of these miseries, 
From all that fortune can inflict upon us, 
I see two comforts rising, two mere blessings, 
If the gods please to hold here, — a brave patience. 
And the enjoying of our griefs together. 60 

Whilst Palamon is with me, let me perish 
If I think this our prison ! 

Pala7non. Certainly, 

*T is a main goodness, cousin, that our fortunes 
Were twin'd together: 't is most true, two souls 
Put in two noble bodies, let 'em suffer 
The gall of hazard, so they grow together. 
Will never sink; they must not; say they could, 
A willing man dies sleeping, and all 's done. 

Arcite. Shall we make worthy uses of this place. 
That all men hate so much ? 

Palamon. How, gentle cousin ? 70 

Arcite. Let ^s think this prison holy sanctuary. 
To keep us from corruption of worse men. 
We are young, and yet desire the ways of honour, 
That liberty and common conversation. 
The poison of pure spirits, might, like women, 
Woo us to wander from. What worthy blessing 
Can be, but our imaginations 
May make it ours ? and here being thus together, 
We are an endless mine to one another; 
We are one another's wife, ever begetting 80 

New births of love; we are father, friends, acquaintance; 
We are, in one another, families; 
I am your heir, and you are mine; this place 



ACT 11, SCENE II. 



71 



Is our inheritance ; no hard oppressor 

Dare take this from us ; here, with a little patience, 

We shall live long, and loving ; no surfeits seek us ; 

The hand of war hurts none here, nor the seas 

Swallow their youth. Were we at liberty, 

A wife might part us lawfully, or business ; 

Quarrels consume us ; envy of ill men 90 

Grave our acquaintance ; I might sicken, cousin, 

Where you should never know it, and so perish 

Without your noble hand to close mine eyes, 

Or prayers to the gods : a thousand chances, 

Were we from hence, would sever us. 

Palamon. You have made me — • 

I thank you, cousin Arcite — almost wanton 
With my captivity \ what a misery 
It is to live abroad, and everywhere ! 
'T is like a beast, methinks ! I find the court here, 
I am sure, a more content j and all those pleasures, 100 

That woo the wills of men to vanity, 
I see through now; and am sufficient 
To tell the world, 't is but a gaudy shadow. 
That old Time, as he passes by, takes with him. 
What had we been, old in the court of Creon, 
Where sin is justice, lust and ignorance 
The virtues of the great ones ! Cousin Arcite, 
Had not the loving gods found this place for us. 
We had died as they do, ill old men, unwept. 
And had their epitaphs, the people's curses. no 

Shall I say more? 

Arcite. I would hear you still. 

Palamon. Ye shall. 

Is there record of any two that lov'd 
Better than we do, Arcite ? 

Arcite. Sure, there cannot. 

Palamon. I do not think it possible our friendship 
Should ever leave us. 



r 



y2 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Arcite. Till our deaths it cannot; 

And after death our spirits shall be led 
To those that love eternally. Speak on, sin 

Enter Emilia and Waiting-woman, below. 

Emilia. This garden has a world of pleasures in 't. 
What flower is this ? 

Waiting-woman. 'T is call'd narcissus, madam. 

Emilia. That was a fair boy certain, but a fool 120 

To love himself; were there not maids enough? 

Arcite. Pray, forward. 

Palamon. Yes. 

Emilia. Or were they all hard-hearted t 

Waiting-woman. They could not be to one so fair. 

Emilia. Thou wouldst not ? 

Waiting-woman. I think I should not, madam. 

Emilia. That 's a good wench ; 

But take heed to your kindness though ! 

Waiting-woman. Why, madam ? 

Emilia. Men are mad things. 

Arcite. Will ye go forward, cousin ? 

Emilia. Canst thou not work such flowers in silk, wench ? 

Waiting-woman. Yes. 

Emilia. I '11 have a gown full of 'em ; and of these ; 
This is a pretty colour : will 't not do 
Rarely upon a skirt, wench ? 

Waiting-woman. Dainty, madam. 130 

Arcite. Cousin ! Cousin ! How do you, sir ? Why, Pala- 
mon ! 

Palamon. Never till now I was in prison, Arcite. 

Arcite. Why, what 's the matter, man ? 

Palamon. Behold, and wonder ! 

By heaven, she is a goddess ! 

Arcite. Ha ! 

Palamon. Do reverence ! 

She is a goddess, Arcite ! 



ACT 11. SCENE I J. 



73 



Emilia. Of all flowers 

Methinks a rose is best. 

Waiting-woman. Why, gentle madam ? 

Emilia. It is the very emblem of a maid ; 
For when the west wind courts her gently, 
How modestly she blows, and paints the sun 
With her chaste blushes ! when the north comes near her, 
Rude and impatient, then, like chastity, 141 

She locks her beauties in her bud again. 
And leaves him to base briers. 

Arcite. She is wondrous fair ! 

Falamon. She is all the beauty extant ! 

Emilia. The sun grows high ; let 's walk in. Keep these 
flowers j 
We '11 see how near art can come near their colours. 

\Exit with Waiting-woman. 

Palamon. What think you of this beauty ? 

Arcite. 'T is a rare one. 

Pala?non. Is 't but a rare one ? 

Arcite. Yes, a matchless beauty. 

Falamon. Might not a man well lose himself, and love 
her? 

Arcite. I cannot tell what you have done ; I have, 130 

Beshrew mine eyes for 't ! Now I feel my shackles. 

Pala7non. You love her then ? 

Arcite. Who would not ? 

Palamon. And desire her ? 

Arcite. Before my liberty. 

Palamon. I saw her first. 

Arcite. That 's nothing. 

Palamon. But it shall be. 

Arcite. I saw her too. 

Palamon. Yes ; but you must not love her. 

Arcite. I will not, as you do, to worship her, 
As she is heavenly and a blessed goddess : 



74 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



I love her as a woman, to enjoy her ; 
So both may love. 

Palamon. You shall not love at all. 

Arcite. Not love at all ? who shall deny me ? 160 

Palamon. I that first saw her ; I that took possession 
First with mine eye of all those beauties in her 
Reveal'd to mankind ! If thou lovest her, 
Or entertain'st a hope to blast my wishes, 
Thou art a traitor, Arcite, and a fellow 
False as thy title to her ; friendship, blood, 
And all the ties between us I disclaim. 
If thou once think upon her ! 

Arcite. Yes, I love her ; 

And if the lives of all my name lay on it, 
I must do so ; I love her with my soul. 170 

If that will lose ye, farewell, Palamon ! 
I say again, I love ; and, in loving her, maintain 
I am as worthy and as free a lover, 
And have as just a title to her beauty, 
As any Palamon, or any living 
That is a man's son. 

Palamon. Have I call'd thee friend ? 

Arcite. Yes, and have found me so. Why are you mov'd 
thus ? 
Let me deal coldly with you : am not I 
Part of your blood, part of your soul ? you have told me 
That I was Palamon, and you were Arcite. 180 

Palamon. Yes. 

Arcite. Am not I liable to those affections. 
Those joys, griefs, angers, fears, my friend shall suffer? 

Palamon. Ye may be. 

Arcite. Why then would you deal so cunningly. 

So strangely, so unlike a noble kinsman, 
To love alone ? Speak truly; do you think me 
Unworthy of her sight ? 



ACT II. SCENE II. 75 

Falamon. No ; but unjust 

If thou pursue that sight. 

Arcite. Because another 

First sees the enemy, shall I stand still, 
And let mine honour down, and never charge ? 190 

Palamon. Yes, if he be but one. 

Arcite. But say that one 

Had rather combat me ? 

Palamon. Let that one say so, 

And use thy freedom ; else, if thou pursuest her, 
Be as that cursed man that hates his country, 
A branded villain ! 

Arcite. You are mad. 

Palamon. I must be, 

Till thou art worthy, Arcite ; it concerns me ; 
And, in this madness, if I hazard thee 
And take thy life, I deal but truly. 

Arcite. Fie, sir ! 

You play the child extremely : I will love her, 
I must, I ought to do so, and I dare ; 200 

And all this justly. 

Palamon. O, that now, that now, 

Thy false self and thy friend had but this fortune. 
To be one hour at liberty, and grasp 
Our good swords in our hands I I ^d quickly teach thee 
What 't were to filch affection from another ! 
Thou art baser in it than a cutpurse ! 
Put but thy head out of this window more. 
And, as I have a soul, I '11 nail thy life to \ ! 

Arcite. Thou dar'st not,fool; thou canst not; thou art feeble. 
Put my head out ! I '11 throw my body out, 210 

And leap the garden, when I see her next. 
And pitch between her arms, to anger thee. 

Palamon. No more ! the keeper 's coming; I shall liv^e 
To knock thy brains out with my shackles. 

Arcite. Do ! 



76 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN, 

Enter Gaoler. 

Gaoler, By your leave, gentlemen. 

Palamon. Now, honest keeper ? 

Gaoler. Lord Arcite, you must presently to the duke \ 
The cause I know not yet. 

Arcite. I am ready, keeper. 

Gaoler. Prince Palamon, I must awhile bereave you 
Of your fair cousin's company. \Exit with Arcite. 

Palamon. And me too. 

Even when you please, of life. — Why is he sent for? 220 

It may be, he shall marry her; he 's goodly. 
And like enough the duke hath taken notice 
Both of his blood and body. But his falsehood ! 
Why vshould a friend be treacherous ? If that 
Get him a wife so noble and so fair, 
Let honest men ne'er love again ! Once more 
I would but see this fair one. — Blessed garden. 
And fruit and flowers more blessed, that still blossom 
As her bright eyes shine on ye ! Would I were, 
For all the fortune of my life hereafter, 230 

Yon little tree, yon blooming apricock ! 
How I would spread, and fling my wanton arms 
In at her window ! I would bring her fruit 
Fit for the gods to feed on % youth and pleasure, 
Still as she tasted, should be doubled on her; 
And, if she be not heavenly, I would make her 
So near the gods in nature, they should fear her; 
And then I am sure she would love me. — 

Re-enter Gaoler. 

How now, keeper ! 
Where 's Arcite ? 

Gaoler. Banish'd. Prince Pirithous 

Obtain'd his liberty; but never more, 240 



ACT If. SCENE IL 77 

Upon his oath and life, must he set foot 
Upon this kingdom. 

Palamon. He 's a blessed man ! 

He shall see Thebes again, and call to arms 
The bold young men that, when he bids 'em charge, 
Fall on like fire. Arcite shall have a fortune, 
If he dare make himself a worthy lover. 
Yet in the field to strike a battle for her ; 
And if he lose her then, he 's a cold coward. 
How bravely may he bear himself to win her. 
If he be noble Arcite, thousand ways ! ztp 

Were I at liberty, I would do things 
Of such a virtuous greatness that this lady, 
This blushing virgin, should take manhood to her, 
And seek to ravish me ! 

Gaoler. My lord, for you 

I have this charge too — 

Palamon. To discharge my life ? 

Gaoler. No; but from this place to remove your lord- 
ship j 
The windows are too open. 

Palamon. Devils take 'em, 

That are so envious to me ! Prithee, kill me ! 

Gaoler. And hang for 't afterward ? 

Palamon. By this good light. 

Had I a sword, I 'd kill thee ! 

Gaoler. Why, my lord ? 260 

Palamon. Thou bring'st such pelting scurvy news con- 
tinually, 
Thou art not worthy life ! I will not go. 

Gaoler. Indeed you must, my lord. 

Palamon. May I see the garden ? 

Gaoler. No. 

Palamon. Then I am resolv'd I will not go. 

Gaoler. I must 



^8 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Constrain you then; and, for you are dangerous, 

I '11 clap more irons on you. 

, Palamon. Do, good keeper ! 

I '11 shake 'em so, ye shall not sleep; 

I '11 make ye a new morris ! Must I go ? 

Gaoler. There is no remedy. 

Palamon. Farewell, kind window ! 

May rude wind never hurt thee ! — O my lady, 271 

If ever thou hast felt what sorrow was. 
Dream how I suffer ! — Come, now bury me. [Exeunt 



Scene III. The Country near Athens. 

Enter Arcite. 

Arcite. Banish'd thr kingdom ? 'T is a benefit, 
A mercy I must thank 'em for; but banish'd 
The free enjoying of that face I die for, 
O, 't was a studied punishment, a death 
Beyond imagination ! such a vengeance 
That, were I old and wicked, all my sins 
Could never pluck upon me. — Palamon, 
Thou hast the start now ; thou shalt stay and see 
Her bright eyes break each morning 'gainst thy window, 
And let in life into thee; thou shalt feed 10 

Upon the sweetness of a noble beauty, 
That nature ne'er exceeded, nor ne'er shall. 
Good gods, what happiness has Palamon ! 
Twenty to one, he '11 come to speak to her ; 
And, if she be as gentle as she 's fair, 
I know she 's his ; he has a tongue will tame 
Tempests, and make the wild rocks wanton. Come what 

can come. 
The worst is death ; I will not leave the kingdom. 
I know mine own is but a heap of ruins. 
And no redress there; if I go, he has her. 20 



ACT IL SCEiVE III. yg 

r 

I am resolv'd ; another shape shall make me, 
Or end my fortunes ; either way, I 'm happy : 
I '11 see her, and be near her, or no more. 

Enter four Countrymen; ofie with a garland before them. 

1 Countryman. My masters, I '11 be there, that 's certain. 

2 Countryman. And 1 '11 be there. 

3 Countryman. And I, 

4 Countryman. Why then, have with ye, boys, 't is but a 

chiding; 
Let the plough play to day! I '11 tickle 't out 
Of the jades' tails to-morrow ! 

1 Countryman. I am sure 
To have my wife as jealous as a turkey : 

But that 's all one; I '11 go through, let her mumble. 30 

3 Countryman. Do we all hold against the Maying? 

4 Countryman. Hold ! what should ail us .'' 

3 Countryman. Areas will be there. 

2 Countryman. And Sennois, 

And Rycas ; and three better lads ne'er danc'd 
Under green tree; and ye know what wenches, ha! 
But will the dainty domine, the schoolmaster, 
Keep touch, do you think ? for he does all, ye know. 

3 Countryman. He '11 eat a horn-book, ere he fail ; go to ! 
The matter 's too far driven between 

Him and the tanner's daughter, to let slip now ; 40 

And she must see the duke, and she must dance too. 

4 Coufitryman. Shall we be lusty ? 

2 Countrymafi. Here I '11 be, 

And there I '11 be, for our town ; and here again. 
And there again ! Ha, boys, heigh for the weavers ! 

1 Countryman. This must be done i' the woods. 

4 Countryman. O, pardon me ! 

2 Comitryman. Byany means; our thing of learning says so; 
Where he himself will edify the duke 



8o THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Most parlously in our behalfs: he 's excellent i' the woods; 
Bring him to th' plains, his learning makes no cry. 

3 Coufitryman. We '11 see the sports ; then every man to 

's tackle ! 50 

And, sweet companions, let 's rehearse by any means, 
Before the ladies see us, and do sweetly, 
And God knows what may come on 't. 

4 Countryman. Content; the sports 
Once ended, we '11 perform. Away, boys, and hold ! 

Arcite. By your leaves, honest friends; pray you, whither 
go you .'' 

4 Countrymafi. Whither ? why, what a question 's that ! 

Arcite. Yes, 't is a question 

To me that know not. 

3 Cou?itryma?i. To the games, my friend. 

2 Countryman. Where were you bred, you know it not .-* 

Arcite. Not far, sir. 

Are there such games to-day? 

\ Countryman. Yes, marry, are there; 

And such as you ne'er saw: the duke himself 60 

Will be in person there. 

Arcite. What pastimes are they ? 

2 Countryman. Wrestling and running. — 'T is a pretty 

fellow. 

3 Countryman. Thou wilt not go along ? 

Arcite. Not yet, sir, 

4 Countryman. Well, sir. 
Take your own time. — Come, boys ! 

1 Countryman. My mind misgives me 
This fellow has a vengeance trick o' the hip ; 

Mark, how his body 's made for 't! 

2 Countryman. I '11 be hang'd though 
If he dare venture; hang him, plum-porridge ! 

He wrestle ? He roast eggs ! Come, let 's be gone, lads. 

\^Exeunt Countrymen. 



ACT 11. SCENE IV. gl 

Arcite. This is an offer'd opportunity 
I durst not wish for. Well I could have wrestled, 70 

The best men call'd it excellent; and run 
Swifter than wind upon a field of corn, 
Curling the wealthy ears, e'er flew. I '11 venture, 
And in some poor disguise be there ; who knows 
Whether my brows may not be girt with garlands, 
And happiness prefer me to a place 
Where 1 may ever dwell in sight of her ? \Exit. 

Scene IV. Athens. A Room in the Prison. 

Enter Gaoler's Daughter. 

Daughter. Why should I love this gentleman ? 'T is odds 
He never will affect me ; I am base. 
My father the mean keeper of his prison, 
And he a prince: to marry him is hopeless, 
To be his whore is witless. Out upon 't ! 
What pushes are we wenches driven to, 
When fifteen once has found us ! First, I saw him ; 
I, seeing, thought he was a goodly man ; 
He has as much to please a woman in him — 
If he please to bestow it so — as ever 10 

These eyes yet look'd on: next, I pitied him; 
And so would any young wench, o' my conscience, 
That ever dream'd, or vow'd her maidenhead 
To a young handsome man : then, I lov'd him ! 
Extremely lov'd him, infinitely lov'd him ! 
And yet he had a cousin, fair as he too; 
But in my heart was Palamon, and there. 
Lord, what a coil he keeps ! To hear him 
Sing in an evening, what a heaven it is ! 
And yet his songs are sad ones. Fairer spoken 20 

Was never gentleman; when I come in 
To bring him water in a morning, first 

F 



82 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

He bows his noble body, then salutes me thus : 

' Fair gentle maid, good morrow ! may thy goodness 

Get thee a happy husband !' Once he kiss'd me; 

I lov'd my lips the better ten days after : 

Would he would do so every day ! He grieves much, 

And me as much to see his misery. 

What should I do, to make him know I love him ? 

For I would fain enjoy him : say I ventur'd 30 

To set him free ? what says the law then ? 

Thus much for law, or kindred ! I will do it, 

And this night or to-morrow he shall love me. \Exit. 

Scene V. Ati Open Place in Athens. A short flourish of 
cornets^ and shouts within. 

Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, PirithouSj Emilia ; Arcite, 
disguised, wearing a garland ; and Countrymen. 

Theseus. You have done worthily ; I have not seen, 
Since Hercules, a man of tougher sinews. 
Whate'er you are, you run the best and wrestle, 
That these times can allow. 

Arcite. I am proud to please you. 

Theseus. What country bred you ? 

Arcite. This j but far off, prince. 

Theseus. Are you a gentleman ? 

Arcite. My father said so. 

And to those gentle uses gave me life. 

Theseus. Are you his heir ? 

Arcite. His youngest, sir. 

Theseus. Your father, 

Sure, is a happy sire then. What proves you? 

Arcite. A little of all noble qualities : 10 

I could have kept a hawk, and well have halloo'd 
To a deep cry of dogs; I dare not praise 
My feat in horsemanship, yet they that knew me 



ACT II. SCENE V. 83 

Would say it was my best piece ; last, and greatest, 
I would be thought a soldier. 

Theseus. You are perfect, 

Ph'ithous. Upon my soul, a proper man ! 

Emilia. He is so. 

Pirithous. How do you like him, lady ? 

Hippolyta. I admire him ; 

I have not seen so young a man so noble. 
If he say true, of his sort. 

Emilia. Believe, 

His mother was a wondrous handsome woman ; 20 

His face methinks goes that way. 

Hippolyta. But his body 

And fiery mind illustrate a brave father. 

Pirithous. Mark how his virtue, like a hidden sun, 
Breaks through his baser garments ! 

Hippolyta. He 's well got, sure. 

Theseus. What made you seek this place, sir ? 

Arcite. Noble Theseus, 

To purchase name, and do my ablest service 
To such a well-found wonder as thy worth ; 
For only in thy court, of all the world. 
Dwells fair-eyed Honour. 

Pirithous. All his words are worthy. 

Theseus. Sir, we are much indebted to your travail, 30 

Nor shall you lose your wish. — Pirithous, 
Dispose of this fair gentleman. 

Pirithous. Thanks, Theseus. — 

Whate'er you are, you 're mine ; and I shall give you 
To a most noble service, — to this lady. 
This bright young virgin : pray observe her goodness. 
You 've honour'd her fair birthday with your virtues. 
And, as your due, you 're hers ; kiss her fair hand, sir. 

Arcite. Sir, you 're a noble giver. — Dearest beauty, 
Thus let me seal my vow'd faith ! when your servant — 



34 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Your most unworthy creature — but offends you, 40 

Command him die, he shall. 

E?nilia. That were too cruel. 

If you deserve well, sir, I shall soon see 't : 
You 're mine; and somewhat better than your rank 
I '11 use you. 

Pirithous. I '11 see you furnish'd: and because you say 
You are a horseman, I must needs entreat you 
This afternoon to ride ; but 't is a rough one. 

Arcite. I like him better, prince ; I shall not then 
Freeze in my saddle. 

Theseus. Sweet, you must be ready — 

And you, Emilia — and you, friend — and all — 50 

To-morrow, by the sun, to do observance 
To flowery May, in Dian's wood. — Wait well, sir. 
Upon your mistress ! — Emily, I hope 
He shall not go afoot. 

Emilia. That were a shame, sir. 

While i have horses. — Take your choice ; and what 
You want at any time, let me but know it. 
If you serve faithfully, I dare assure you 
You '11 find a loving mistress. 

Arcite. If I do not, 

Let me find that my father ever hated, — 
Disgrace and blows ! 

Theseus. Go, lead the way; you've won it; 60 

It shall be so ; you shall receive all dues 
Fit for the honour you have won ; 't were wrong else. — 
Sister, beshrew my heart, you have a servant, 
That, if I were a woman, would be master ; 
But you are wise. 

Emilia. I hope too wise for that, sir. 

[^Flourish. Exeunt. 



ACT II. SCENE VI. 8$ 



Scene VI. Before the Prison. 

Enter Gaoler's Daughter. 

Daughter. Let all the dukes and all the devils roar, 
He is at liberty! I 've ventur'd for him j 
And out I have brought him to a little wood 
A mile hence. I have sent him where a cedar, 
Higher than all the rest, spreads like a plane 
Fast by a brook; and there he shall keep close, 
Till I provide him files and food, for yet 
His iron bracelets are not off. O Love, 
What a stout-hearted child thou art! My father 
Durst better have endur'd cold iron than done it. lo 

I love him beyond love and beyond reason, 
Or wit, or safety. I have made him know it: 
I care not ; I am desperate. If the law 
Find me, and then condemn me for 't, some wenches. 
Some honest-hearted maids, will sing my dirge, 
And tell to memory my death was noble, 
Dying almost a martyr. That way he takes, 
I purpose, is my way too j sure he cannot 
Be so unmanly as to leave me here ! 

If he do, maids will not so easily 20 

Trust men again : and yet he has not thank'd me 
For what I have done ; no, not so much as kiss'd me ; 
And that, methinks, is not so well ; nor scarcely 
Could I persuade him to become a freeman, 
He made such scruples of the wrong he did 
To me and to my father. Yet, I hope, 
When he considers more, this love of mine 
Will take more root within him : let him do 
What he will with me, so he use me kindly ! 
For use me so he shall, or I '11 proclaim him, 3° 

And to his face, no man. I '11 presently 



86 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



Provide him necessaries, and pack my clothes up, 

And where there is a patch of ground I '11 venture, 

So he be with me ; by him, like a shadow, 

I '11 ever dwell. Within this hour the whoo-bub 

Will be all o'er the prison ; I am then 

Kissing the man they look for. — Farewell, father! 

Get many more such prisoners and such daughters, 

And shortly you may keep yourself. Now to him I 



\Exit. 




THE PROPYL^A AT ATHENS. 




What ignorant and mad-malicious traitors 
Are you. that, 'gainst the tenour of my laws, 
Are making battle? (iii. 6. 134). 



ACT III. 

Scene I. A Forest. Cornets in sundry places. Noise and 
hallooing, as of People a- Maying. 

Enter Arcite. 

Arcite. The duke has lost Hippolyta; each took 
A several laund. This is a solemn rite 
They owe bloom'd May, and the Athenians pay it 
To the heart of ceremony. — O queen Emilia, 
Fresher than May, sweeter 
Than her gold buttons on the boughs, or all 
Th' enamell'd knacks o' the mead or garden! yea, 
We challenge too the bank of any nymph, 



88 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

That makes the stream seem flowers; thou, O jewel 

O' the wood, o' the world, hast likewise bless'd a place lo 

With thy sole presence ! In thy rumination 

That I, poor man, might eftsoons come between, 

And chop on some cold thought! — Thrice blessed chance, 

To drop on such a mistress, expectation 

Most guiltless on 't! Tell me, O lady Fortune- — 

Next after Emily my sovereign — how far 

I may be proud. She takes strong note of me. 

Hath made me near her, and this beauteous morn, 

The prim'st of all the year, presents me with 

A brace of horses; two such steeds might well 20 

Be by a pair of kings back'd, in a field 

That their crowns' titles tried. Alas, alas, 

Poor cousin Palamon, poor prisoner! thou 

So little dream'st upon my fortune, that 

Thou think'st thyself the happier thing, to be 

So near Emilia! Me thou deem'st at Thebes, 

And therein wretched, although free ; but if 

Thou knew'st my mistress breath'd on me, and that 

I ear'd her language, liv'd in her eye, O coz. 

What passion would enclose thee ! 

Enter Palamon out of a bush, with his shackles ; he lends his 

fist at Arcite. 

Palamon. Traitor kinsman! 30 

Thou shouldst perceive my passion, if these signs 
Of prisonment were off me, and this hand 
But owner of a sword ! By all oaths in one, 
I, and the justice of my love, would make thee 
A confess'd traitor ! O thou most perfidious 
That ever gently look'd ! the void'st of honour 
. That e'er bore gentle token! falsest cousin 
That ever blood made kin ! call'st thou her thine? 
I '11 prove it in my shackles, with these hands 



ACT III. SCENE I. 89 

Void of appointment, that thou Hest, and art 40 

A very thief in love, a chaffy lord. 

Nor worth the name of villain ! Had I a sword, 

And these house-clogs away — 

Arcite. Dear cousin Palamon — 

- Palamon. Cozener Arcite, give me language such 
As thou hast show'd me feat! 

Arcite. Not finding in 

The circuit of my breast any gross stuff 
To form me like your blazon, holds me to 
This gentleness of answer: 't is your passion 
That thus mistakes ; the which, to you being enemy, 
Cannot to me be kind. Honour and honesty 50 

I cherish and depend on, howsoe'er 
You skip them in me, and with them, fair coz, 
I '11 maintain my proceedings. Pray be pleas'd 
To show in generous terms your griefs, since that 
Your question 's with your equal, who professes 
To clear his own way with the mind and sword 
Of a true gentleman. 

Palamon. That thou durst, Arcite ! 

Arcite. My coz, my coz, you have been well advertis'd 
How much I dare ; you 've seen me use my sword 
Against the advice of fear. Sure, of another 60 

You would not hear me doubted, but your silence 
Should break out, though i' the sanctuary. 

Palamon. Sir, 

I 've seen you move in such a place, which well 
Might justify your manhood; you were call'd- 
A good knight and a bold : but the whole week 's not fair, 
If any day it rain. Their valiant temper 
Men lose when they incline to treachery; 
And then they fight like compell'd bears, would fly 
Were they not tied. 

Arcite. Kinsman, you might as well 



QO THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Speak this, and act it in your glass, as to 7° 

His ear which now disdains you. 

Palamon. Come up to me! 

Quit me of these cold gyves, give me a sword, 
Though it be rusty, and the charity 
Of one meal lend me ; come before me then, 
A good sword in thy hand, and do but say 
That Emily is thine, I will forgive 
The trespass thou hast done me, yea, my life, 
If then thou carry 't; and brave souls in shades, 
That have died manly, which will seek of me 
Some news from earth, they shall get none but this, so 

That thou art brave and noble. 

Arcite. Be content; 

Again betake you to your hawthorn-house. 
With counsel of the night, I will be here 
With wholesome viands; these impediments 
Will I file off; you shall have garments, and 
Perfumes to kill the smell o' the prison ; after. 
When you shall stretch yourself, and say but, ' Arcite, 
I am in plight !' there shall be at your choice 
Both sword and armour. 

Palamon. O you heavens, dares any 

So noble bear a guilty business? None ^o 

But only Arcite ; therefore none but Arcite 
In this kind is so bold. 

Arcite. Sweet Palamon — 

Palamon. I do embrace you, and your offer: for 
Your offer do- 't I only, sir ; your person. 
Without hypocrisy, I may not wish 
More than my sword's edge on 't. ^Horns winded within. 

Arcite. You hear the horns ; 

Enter your musit, lest this match betwean 's 
Be cross'd ere met. Give me your hand; farewell! 
I '11 bring you every needful thing ; I pray you 
Take comfort, and be strong. 



ACT III. SCENE IL gj 

Palamon. Pray hold your promise, loo 

And do the deed with a bent brow. Most certain 
You love me not; be rough with me, and pour 
This oil out of your language. By this air, 
I could for each word give a cuff, my stomach 
Not reconcil'd by reason ! 

Arcite. Plainly spoken ! 

Yet pardon me hard language: when I spur 
My horse, I chide him not; content and anger 

\Horns winded again. 
In me have but one face. — Hark, sir! they call 
The scatter'd to the banquet; you must guess 
I have an office there. 

Palamon. Sir, your attendance "o 

Cannot please heaven; and I know your office 
Unjustly is achiev'd. 

Arcite. I 've a good title, 

I am persuaded ; this question, sick between 's, 
By bleeding must be cur'd. I am a suitor 
That to your sword you will bequeath this plea, 
And talk of it no more. 

Palamon. But this one word: 

You are going now to gaze upon my mistress; 
For, note you, mine she is — 

Arcite. Nay, then — 

Palamon. Nay, pray you ! — 

You talk of feeding me to breed me strength: 
You are going now to look upon a sun 15-0 

That strengthens what it looks on; there you have 
A vantage o'er me; but eiyoy it till 
I may enforce my remedy. Farewell! \^ExeHnt. 



92 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Scene 1 1. Another Fart of the Forest. 

Enter Gaoler's Daughter. 

Daughter. He has mistook the brake I meant, is gone 
After his fancy. 'T is now well-nigh morning; 
No matter! would it were perpetual night, 
And darkness lord o' the world! — Hark! 't is a wolf; 
In me hath grief slain fear, and, but for one thing, . 
I care for nothing, and that 's Palamon. 
I reck not if the wolves would jaw me, so 
He had this file. What if I halloo'd for him? 
I cannot halloo ; if I whoop'd, what then? 
If he not answer'd, I should call a wolf, lo 

And do him but that service. I have heard 
Strange howls this livelong night; why may 't not be 
They have made prey of him? He has no weapons. 
He cannot run ; the jingling of his gyves 
Might call fell things to listen, who have in them 
A sense to know a man unarm'd, and can 
Smell where resistance is. I '11 set it down 
He 's torn to pieces ; they howl'd many together, 
And then they fed on him : so much for that! 
Be bold to ring the bell ; how stand I then ? 20 

All 's char'd when he is gone. No, no, I lie, 
My father 's to be hang'd for his escape ; 
Myself to beg, if I priz'd life so much 
As to deny my act ; but that I would not, 
Should I try death by dozens ! — I am mop'd : 
Food took I none these two days — 
Sipp'd some water. I have not clos'd mine eyes, 
Save when my lids scour'd off their brine. Alas, 
Dissolve, my life ! let not my sense unsettle, 
Lest I should drown, or stab, or hang myself! 30 

O state of nature, fail together in me, 
Since thy best props are warp'd! — So! which way now? 



ACT in. SCENE III. 92 

The best way is the next way to a grave ; 

Each errant step beside is torment. Lo, 

The moon is down, the crickets chirp, the screech-owl 

Calls in the dawn ! all offices are done, 

Save what I fail in ; but the point is this, 

An end, and that is all ! [Exit. 

Scene III. The same Part of the Forest as in Scene I. 

Enter Arcite, with fneat, wine, fles, etc. 
Arcite. I should be near the place. — Ho, cousin Palamon ! 

Enter Palamon. 

Palamoti. Arcite? 

Arcite. The same; I 've brought you food 

and files. 
Come forth, and fear not; here 's no Theseus. 

Palamon. Nor none so honest, Arcite. 

Arcite. That 's no matter ; 

We '11 argue that hereafter. Come, take courage; 
You shall not die thus beastly ; here, sir, drink. 
I know you 're faint; then I '11 talk further with you. 

Palamon. Arcite, thou mightst now poison me. 

Arcite. I might; 

But I must fear you first. Sit down ; and, good now. 
No more of these vain parleys ! Let us not, lo 

Having our ancient reputation with us. 
Make talk for fools and cowards. To your health ! [Drinks. 

Palamon. Do. 

Arcite. Pray, sit down then ; and let me entreat you, 

By all the honesty and honour in you, 
No mention of this woman ! 't will disturb us; 
We shall have time enough. 

Palamon. Well, sir, I '11 pledge you. [Drinks. 

Arcite. Drink a good hearty draught; it breeds good 
blood, man. 
Do not you feel it thaw you .? 



04 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Palamon. Stay ; I '11 tell you 

After a draught or two more. 

Arcite. Spare it not ; 

The duke has more, coz. Eat now. 

Palamon. Yes. 

Arcite. I am glad 20 

You have so good a stomach. 

Palamon. I am gladder 

I have so good meat to 't. 

Arcite. Is 't not mad lodging 

Here in the wild woods, cousin? 

Palamon. Yes, for them 

That have wild consciences. 

Arcite. How tastes your victuals? 

Your hunger needs no sauce, I see. 

Palamon. Not much ; 

But if it did, yours is too tart, sweet cousin. 
What is this? 

Arcite. Venison. 

Palamon. 'T is a lusty meat. 

Give me more wine: here, Arcite, to the wenches 
We have known in our days! The lord-steward's daugh- 
ter; 
Do you remember her ? 

Arcite. After you, coz. 30 

Palamon. She lov'd a black-hair'd man. 

Arcite. She did so; well, sir? 

Palamon. And I have heard some call him Arcite; and — 

Arcite. Out with it, faith ! 

Pala?non. She met him in an arbour : 

What did she there, coz? play o' the virginals? = 

Arcite. Something she did, sir. 

Palamon. Made her groan a month for 't ; 

Or two, or three, or ten. 

Arcite. The marshal's sister 



ACT III. SCENE IV. 95 

Had her share too, as I remember, cousin, 
Else there be tales abroad ; you '11 pledge her ? 

Palamon. Yes. 

Arcite. A pretty brown wench 't is ! There was a time 
When young men went a-hunting, and a wood, 40 

And a broad beech ; and thereby hangs a tale. — 
Heigh-ho ! 

Palamon. For Emily, upon my life ! Fool, 
Away with this strain'd mirth ! I say again. 
That sigh was breath'd for Emily ! Base cousin, 
Dar'st thou break first ? 

Arcite. You are wide. 

Palamon. By heaven and earth, 

There 's nothing in thee honest ! 

Arcite. Then I '11 leave you ; 

You are a beast now. 

Palamon. As thou mak'st me, traitor. 

Arcite. There 's all things needful, — files, and shirts, and 
perfumes. 
I '11 come again some two hours hence, and bring 
That that shall quiet all. 

Palamon. A sword and armour ? so 

Arcite. Fear me not. You are now too foul ; farewell ! 
Get off your trinkets ; you shall want nought. 

Palamon. Sirrah — 

Arcite. I '11 hear no more ! \Exit. 

Palamon. If he keep touch, he dies for 't. \Exit. 

Scene IV. Another Part of the Forest. 
Enter Gaoler's Daughter. 
Daughter. I 'm very cold ; and all the stars are out too, 
The little stars, and all that look like aglets : 
The sun has seen my folly. Palamon ! 
Alas, no ; he 's in heaven ! — Where am I now ? — 



96 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Yonder 's the sea, and there 's a ship ; how 't tumbles ! 

And there 's a rock lies watching under water ; 

Now, now, it beats upon it ! now, now, now ! 

There 's a leak sprung, a sound one ; how they cry ! 

Run her before the wind, you '11 lose all else ! 

Up with a course or two, and tack about, boys ! lo 

Good night, good night; y' are gone ! — I 'm very hungry : 

Would I could find a fine frog ! he would tell me 

News from all parts o' the world ; then would I make 

A carack of a cockle-shell, and sail 

By east and north-east to the King of Pigmies, 

For he tells fortunes rarely. Now my father, 

Twenty to one, is truss'd up in a trice 

To-morrow morning ; I '11 say never a word. 

[Sings] For I '// cut my green coat afoot above my knee ; 

And I '// clip my yellow locks an inch below mine e'e. 20 

Hey^ nonny, nonny, nonny. 
He V buy me a white cut, forth for to ride. 
And I ^11 go seek him through the world that is so wide. 
Hey, nonny, nonny, nonny. 

O for a prick now, like a nightingale, 

To put my breast against ! I shall sleep like a top else. \Exit. 

Scene V. Another Part of the Forest. 

Enter Gerrold, /^z^r Countrymen as morris-dancers, another 

as the B2Lvia.n,fve Wenches, and a Taborer. 

G err old. Fie, fie ! 
What tediosity and disensanity 
Is here among ye ! Have my rudiments 
Been labour'd so long with ye, milk'd unto ye, 
And, by a figure, even the very plum-broth 
And marrow of my understanding laid upon ye, 
And do you still cry * where,' and ' how,' and 'wherefore V 
You most coarse frize capacities, ye jane judgments. 



ACT HI. SCENE V. 



97 



Have I said ' thus let be,' and ' there let be/ 

And ' then let be,' and no man understand me? lo 

Proh Deum, medius fidius, ye are all dunces ! 

For why, here stand I; here the duke comes ; there are you, 

Close in the thicket ; the duke appears, I meet him, 

And unto him I utter learned things, 

And many figures ; he hears, and nods, and hums, 

And then cries ' rare !' and I go forward ; at length 

I fling my cap up ; mark there ! then do you. 

As once did Meleager and the boar, 

Break comely out before him, like true lovers, 

Cast yourselves in a body decently, 20 

And sweetly, by a figure, trace and turn, boys ! 

1 Coimtrynian. And sweetly we will do it, master Gerrold. 

2 Countryma7i. Draw up the company. Where 's the la- 

borer ? 

3 Coufitryfnan. Why, Timothy ! 

Taborer. Here, my mad boys ; have at ye ! 

Gerrold. But I say, where 's their women ? 

4 Coimtrynian. Here 's Friz and Maudlin, 

2 Countryman. And little Luce with the white legs, and 

bouncing Barbar}^ 
I Countryman. And freckled Nell; that never failed her 

master. 
Gerrold. Where be your ribands, maids .? Swim with your 
bodies, 
And carry it sweetly and deliverly; 

And now and then a favour and a frisk ! 30 

Nell. Let us alone, sir. 
Gerrold. Where 's the rest o' the music ? 

3 Countrymaji. Dispers'd as you commanded. 

Gerrold. Couple, then, 

And see what 's wanting. Where 's the Bavian 1 — 
My friend, carry your tail without offence 
Or scandal to the ladies; and be sure 

G 



98 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

You tumble with audacity and manhood; 
And when you bark, do it with judgment. 

Bavian. Yes, sir. 

Gerrold. Quousque tandem? Here is a woman want- 
ing! 

4 Countryman. We may go whistle ; all the fat 's i' the fire ! 

Gerrold. We have, 40 

As learned authors utter, wash'd a tile ; 
We have been fatuus, and labour'd vainly. 

2 Countryman. This is that scornful piece, that scurvy 

hilding, 
That gave her promise faithfully she would 
Be here. Cicely the sempster's daughter ! 
The next gloves that I give her shall be dog-skin ; 
Nay, an she fail me once — You can tell. Areas, 
She swore, by wine and bread, she would not break. 

Gerrold. An eel and woman, 
A learned poet says, unless by the tail 50 

And with thy teeth thou hold, will either fail. 
In manners this was false position. 

I Countryman. A fire-ill take her ? does she flinch now ? 

3 Coutttryman. What 
Shall we determine, sir? 

Gerrold. Nothing ; 

Our business is become a nullity. 
Yea, and a woeful and a piteous nullity, 

4 Countryman. Now, when the credit of our town lay on it, 
Now to be frampal ! 

Go thy ways ; I '11 remember thee, I '11 fit thee ! 

Enter Gaoler's Daughter, and sings. 

The George alow came from the souths 60 

F?'o?n the coast of Barbary-a ; 
And there he met with brave gallants of war. 

By one, by two, by three- a. 



ACT III. SCENE V. 99 

Well haiPd, well hair d, you Jolly gallants / 

And whither now are you bound-a 'i 
O, let 7tie have your company 

Till I come to the Sound-a / 
The7'e was three fools fell out about an how let ; 
The one said it was an owl, 

The other he said nay, 7° 

The third he said it was a hawk, 
And her bells were cut away. 
3 Countryman. There 's a dainty mad woman, master, 
Comes i' the nick, — as mad as a March hare ! 
If we can get her dance, we are made again ; 
I warrant her she '11 do the rarest gambols ! 

1 Countryman. A mad woman ! We are made, boys. 
Gerrold. And are you mad, good woman ? 

Daughter. I 'd be sorry else ; 

Give me your hand. 

Gerrold. Why t 

Daughter. I can tell your fortune : 

You are a fool. Tell ten. I have pos'd him. Buz ! 80 

Friend, you must eat no white bread ; if you do, 
Your teeth will bleed extremely. Shall we dance, ho ? 
I know you ; you 're a tinker : sirrah tinker — 

Gerrold. Dii boni ! 
A tinker, damsel ? 

Daughter. Or a conjurer : 

Raise me a devil now, and let him play 
* Qui passa ' o' the bells and bones ! 

Gerrold. Go, take her, 

And fluently persuade her to a peace. 
Et opus exegi, quod nee lovis ira, nee ignis — 
Strike up, and lead her in. 

2 Countryman. Come, lass, let 's trip it ! 90 
Daughter. I '11 lead. 

3 Countryman. Do, do. \Wind horns. 



ipo THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Gerrold. Persuasively and cunningly; away, boys ! 
I hear the horns ; give me some meditation, 
And mark your cue. — \Exeunt all but Gerrold. 

Pallas inspire me ! 

Enter Theseus, Pirithous, Hippolyta, Emilia, Arcite, 

and traifi. 

Theseus. This way the stag took. 

Gerrold. Stay, and edify ! 

Theseus. What have we here ? 

Pirithous. Some country sport, upon my life, sir. 

Theseus. Well, sir, go forward ; we will edify. — 
Ladies, sit down ! we '11 stay it. 

Gerrold. Thou doughty duke, all hail ! — All hail, sweet 
ladies ! loo 

Theseus. This is a cold beginning. 

Gerrold. If you but favour, our country pastime made is. 
We are a few of those collected here, 
That ruder tongues distinguish villager ; 
And to say verity, and not to fable, 
We are a merry rout, or else a rable, 
Or company, or, by a figure, choris. 
That fore thy dignity will dance a morris. 
And I, that am the rectifier of all, 

By title Pedagogus, that let fall no 

The birch upon the breeches of the small ones, 
And humble with a ferula the tall ones, 
Do here present this machine, or this frame ; 
And, dainty duke, whose doughty dismal fame 
From Dis to Daedalus, from post to pillar. 
Is blown abroad, help me, thy poor well-wilier, 
And with thy twinkling eyes look right and straight 
Upon this mighty morr — of mickle weight — 
— is now comes in, which being glued together 
Makes morris, and the cause that we came hither, 120 



ACT III. SCENE V. loi 

The body of our sport, of no small study, 

I first appear, though rude, and raw, and muddy, 

To speak, before thy noble grace, this tenour ; 

At whose great feet I offer up my penner. 

The next, the Lord of May and Lady bright, 

The Chambermaid and Servingman, by night 

That seek out silent hanging ; then mine host 

And his fat spouse, that welcomes to their cost 

The galled traveller, and with a beck'ning 

Informs the tapster to inflame the reck'ning; 130 

Then the beast-eating Clown, and next the Fool, 

The Bavian, with long tail and eke long tool ; 

Cum multis aliis that make a dance : . ^ 

Say ay, and all shall presently advance. 

Theseus. Ay, ay, by any means, dear domine ! 

Pirithous. Produce. 

Gerrold. Intrate, filii ! Come forth, and foot it. 

Enter the four Countrymen, the Bavian, the Taborer, the five 
Wenches and the Gaoler's Daughter, with others of both 
sexes. They dance a morris. After ivhich Gerrold speaks 
the Epilogue. 

Ladies, if we have been merry. 

And have pleas 'd ye with a derry, 

And a derry, and a down, 140 

Say the schoolmaster 's no clown. — 

Duke, if we have pleas'd thee too. 

And have done as good boys should do, 

Give us but a tree or twain 

For a Maypole, and again, 

Ere another year run out. 

We '11 make thee laugh, and all this rout. 
Theseus. Take twenty, domine. — How does my sweet- 
heart .'' 
Hippolyta. Never so. pleas'd, sir. 



102 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Emilia. 'T was an excellent dance ; and, for a preface, 
I never heard a better. 

Theseus. Schoolmaster, I thank you. — is' 

One see 'em all rewarded. 

Firithous. And here 's something 

To paint your pole withal. \Gives money. 

Theseus. Now to our sports again ! 

Gerrold. May the stag thou hunt'st stand long, 
And thy dogs be swift and strong! 
May they kill him without lets, 
And the ladies eat his doucets ! — 
Come, we are all made ! — Dii Deaeque omnes ! [ Wind horns. 
Ye have danc'd rarely, wenches ! \Exeunt. 

Scene VI. The same Part of the Forest as iti Scene FIT. 

Enter Palamon from the bush. 

Palamon. About this hour my cousin gave his faith 
To visit me again, and with him bring 
Two swords and two good armours ; if he fail. 
He 's neither man nor soldier. When he left me, 
I did not think a week could have restor'd 
My lost strength to me, I was grown so low 
And crest-fallen with my wants ; I thank thee, Arcite, 
Thou art yet a fair foe, and I feel myself, 
With this refreshing, able once again 

To out-dure danger. To delay it longer lo 

Would make the world think, when it comes to hearing, 
That I lay fatting like a swine, to fight. 
And not a soldier. Therefore this blest morning 
Shall be the last, and that sword he refuses. 
If it but hold, I kill him with ; 't is justice : 
So, love and fortune for me ! — O, good morrow ! 



ACT III. SCENE VI. 



103 



Enter Arcite, with armours and swords, 

Arcite. Good morrow, noble kinsman ! 

Falamon. I have put you 

To too much pains, sir. 

Arcite. That too much, fair cousin, 

Is but a debt to honour, and my duty. 

Palamon. Would you were so in all, sir ! I could wish ye 
As kind a kinsman as you force me find 21 

A beneficial foe, that my embraces 
Might thank ye, not my blows. 

A7'dte. I shall think either, 

Well done, a noble recompense. 

Falamon. Then I shall quit you. 

Arcite. Defy me in these fair terms, and you shew 
More than a mistress to me ; no more anger, 
As you love any thing that 's honourable ! 
We were not bred to talk, man \ when we are arm'd, 
And both upon our guards, then let our fury, 
Like meeting of two tides, fly strongly from us ! 30 

And then to whom the birthright of this beauty 
Truly pertains — without upbraidings, scorns, 
Despisings of our persons, and such poutings, 
Fitter for girls and schoolboys — will be seen. 
And quickly, yours or mine. Will 't please you arm, sir? 
Or if you feel yourself not fitting yet. 
And furnish'd with your old strength, I '11 stay, cousin, 
And every day discourse you into health. 
As I am spar'd : your person I am friends with, 
And I could wish I had not said I lov'd her, 40 

Though I had died \ but, loving such a lady. 
And justifying my love, I must not fly from 't. 

Falamon. Arcite, thou art so brave an enemy, 
That no man but thy cousin 's fit to kill thee. 
I 'm well and lusty ] choose your arms. 



I04 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Arcite. Choose you, sir. 

Falamon. Wilt thou exceed in all, or dost thou do it 
To make me spare thee ? 

Arcite. If you think so, cousin, 

You are deceiv'd ; for, as I am a soldier, 
I will not spare you ! 

Falamofi. That 's well said. 

Arcite, You '11 find it. 

Palamo7i. Then, as I am an honest man, and love so 

AVith all the justice of affection, 
I '11 pay thee soundly ! This I '11 take. 

Arcite. That 's mine then ; 

I '11 arm you first. \Proceeds to arm Falamon. 

Falamon. Do. Pray thee, tell me, cousin. 

Where gott 'st thou this good armour ? 

Arcite. 'T is the duke's ; 

And, to say true, I stole it. — Do I pinch you ? 

Falamon. No. 

Arcite. Is 't not too heavy ? 

Falamo7i. I have worn a lighter ; 

But I shall make it serve. 

Ai'cite. I '11 buckle 't close. 

Falamon. By any means. 

Arcite. You care not for a grand-guard ? 

Falamon. No, no ; we '11 use no horses ; I perceive 6o 

You 'd fain be at that fight. 

Arcite. I am indifferent. 

Falamon. Faith, so am I. Good cousin, thrust the buckle 
Through far enough. 

Arcite. I warrant you. 

Falamo?t. My casque now. 

A?rite. Will you fight bare-arm'd ? 

Falamon. We shall be the nimbler. 

Arcite. But use your gauntlets though : those are o' the 
least; 
Prithee take mine, good cousin. 



ACT III. SCENE VL 105 

Palamon. Thank you, Arcite. 

How do I look ? am I fallen much away ? 

Arcite. Faith, very little ; love has us'd you kindly. 

Falamon. I '11 warrant thee I '11 strike home. 

Arcite. Do, and spare not ! 

I '11 give you cause, sweet cousin. 

Palamon {arming Arcite). Now to you, sir. 70 

Methinks this armour 's very like that, Arcite, 
Thou wor'st that day the three kings fell, but lighter. 

Arcite. That was a very good one ; and that day, 
I well remember, you outdid me, cousin. 
I never saw such valour ; when you charg'd ' 
Upon the left wing of the enemy, 
I spurr'd hard to come up, and under me 
I had a right good horse. 

Fala?non. You had indeed ; 

A bright bay, I remember. 

A7rite. Yes. But all 

Was vainly labour'd in me ; you outwent me, 8c 

Nor could my wishes reach you : yet a little 
I did by imitation. 

Palamon. More by virtue ; 

You are modest, cousin. 

Arcite. When I saw you charge first, 

Methought I heard a dreadful clap of thunder 
Break from the troop. 

Palamon. But still before that flew 

The lightning of your valour. Stay a little ! 
Is not this piece too strait ? 

Arcite. No, no ; 't is well. 

Palamon. I would have nothing hurt thee but my sword ; 
A bruise would be dishonour. 

Arcite. Now I am perfect. 

Pala77ion. Stand off then ! 

Arcite. Take my sword ; I hold it better. 



lo6 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Palamo?i. I thank ye, no ; keep it, your life lies on it. ci 
Here 's one, if it but hold, I ask no more 
For all my hopes. My cause and honour guard me ! 

Arcite. And me my love ! Is there aught else to say? 

\They bow several ways ; then advance and stand. 

Palamofi. This only, and no more: thou art mine aunt's son, 
And that blood we desire to shed is mutual j 
In me thine, and in thee mine : my sword 
Is in my hand, and, if thou killest me, 
The gods and I forgive thee. If there be 
A place prepar'd for those that sleep in honour, loo 

I wish his we^ry soul that falls may win it. 
Fight bravely, cousin ; give me thy noble hand. 

Arcite. Here, Palamon; this hand shall never more 
Come near thee with such friendship. 

Palamon. I commend thee. 

Arcite. If I fall, curse me, and say I was a coward j 
For none but such dare die in these just trials. 
Once more farewell, my cousin ! 

Palamon. Farewell, Arcite ! 

\They fight. Ho?'ns ivithin; they stand. 

Arcite. Lo, cousin, lo ! our folly has undone us ! 

Palamon. Why ? 

Arcite. This is the duke, a-hunting as I told you ; no 

If we be found, we are wretched. O, retire, 
P'or honour's sake and safety, presently 
Into your bush again, sir ! We shall find 
Too many hours to die in. Gentle cousin, 
If you be seen, you perish instantly. 
For breaking prison ; and I, if you reveal me. 
For my contempt : then all the world will scorn us, 
And say we had a noble difference, 
But base disposers of it. 

Palamon. No, no, cousin ; 

I will no more be hidden, nor put off 120 



ACT III. SCENE VL 107 

This great adventure to a second trial. 
I know your cunning, and I know your cause. 
He that faints now, shame take him ! Put thyself 
Upon thy present guard — 

Arcite. You are not mad ? 

Palamon. Or I will make the advantage of this hour 
Mine own; and what to come shall threaten me, 
I fear less than my fortune. Know, weak cousin, 
I love Emilia; and in that I '11 bury 
Thee, and all crosses else. 

Arcite. Then come what can come. 

Thou shalt know, Palamon, I dare as well 130 

Die, as discourse or sleep ; only this fears me, 
The law will have the honour of our ends. 
Have at thy life ! 

Palamon. Look to thine own well, Arcite ! 

[They fight again. Horns. 

Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Emilia, Pirithous, and trai?i. 

Theseus. What ignorant and mad-malicious traitors 
Are you, that, 'gainst the tenour of my laws, 
Are making battle, thus like knights appointed, 
Without my leave, and officers of arms "i 
By Castor, both shall die ! 

Palamon. Hold thy word, Theseus ! 

We are certainly both traitors, both despisers 
Of thee and of thy goodness: I am Palamon, 140 

That cannot love thee, he that broke thy prison ; 
Think well what that deserves ! and this is Arcite; 
A bolder traitor never trod thy ground, 
A falser ne'er seem'd friend: this is the man 
Was begg'd and banish'd ; this is he contemns thee, 
And what thou dar'st do ; and in this disguise, 
Against thine own edict, follows thy sister, 
That fortunate bright star, the fair Emilia — 



io8 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Whose servant, if there be a right in seeing, 

And first bequeathing of the soul to, justly 150 

I am — and, which is more, dares think her his ! 

This treachery, like a most trusty lover, 

I call'd him now to answer. If thou beest, 

As thou art spoken, great and virtuous, 

The true decider of all injuries, 

Say, ' Fight again !' and thou shalt see me, Theseus, 

Do such a justice thou thyself wilt envy : 

Then take my life ! I '11 woo thee to 't. 

Pirithoiis. O heaven, 

What more than man is this ! 

Theseus. I 've sworn. 

Arcite. We seek not 

Thy breath of mercy, Theseus ! 'T is to me i6o 

A thing as soon to die as thee to say it, 
And no more mov'do Where this man calls me traitor, 
Let me say thus much : if in love be treason, 
In service of so excellent a beauty — 
As I love most, and in that faith will perish. 
As I have brought my life here to confirm, it. 
As I have serv'd her truest, worthiest. 
As I dare kill this cousin that denies it — 
So let me be most traitor, and ye please me. 
For scorning thy edict, duke, ask that lady 17c 

Why she is fair, and why her eyes command me 
Stay here to love her ? and if she say traitor, 
I am a villain fit to lie unburied. 

Palanion. Thou shalt have pity of us both, O Theseus, 
If unto neither thou show mercy ; stop, 
As thou art just, thy noble ear against us; 
As thou art valiant, for thy cousin's soul, 
Whose twelve strong labours crown his memory. 
Let 's die together, at one instant, duke ! 
Only a little let him fall before me, 180 

That I may tell my soul he shall not have her. 



ACT TIL SCENE VI. 1 09 

Theseus. I grant your wish ; for, to say true, your cousin 
Has ten times more offended, for I gave him 
More mercy than you found, sir, your offences 
Being no more than his. — None here speak for 'em ! 
For ere the sun set, both shall sleep for ever. 

Hippolyta. Alas, the pity ! now or never, sister, 
Speak, not to be denied ; that face of yours 
Will bear the curses else of after ages 
For these lost cousins. 

Emilia. In my face, dear sister, 19c 

I find no anger to 'em, nor no ruin ; 
The misadventure of their own eyes kill 'em : 
Yet that I will be woman and have pity. 
My knees shall grow to the ground but I '11 get mercy. 
Help me, dear sister ! in a deed so virtuous 
The powers of all women will be with us. — 
Most royal brother — 

Hippolyta. Sir, by our tie of marriage — 

Ei7iilia. By your own spotless honour — 

Hippolyta. By that faith, 

That fair hand, and that honest heart you gave me — 

Emilia. By that you would have pity in another, 200 

By your own virtues infinite — 

Hippolyta. By valour, 

By all the chaste nights I have ever pleas'd you — 

Theseus. These are strange conjurings ! 

Pirithous. Nay, then, I '11 in too ! — 

By all our friendship, sir, by all our dangers. 
By all you love most, — wars, and this sweet lady — 

Emilia. By that you would have trembled to deny 
A blushing maid — 

Hippolyta. By your own eyes, by strength, 

In which you swore I went beyond all women. 
Almost all men, and yet I yielded, Theseus — 

Pirithous. To crown all this, by your most noble soul, 210 
Which cannot want due mercy, I beg first ! 



no THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Hippolyta. Next hear my prayers ! 

Emilia. Last, let me entreat, sir ! 

Pirithous. For mercy ! 

Hippolyta, Mercy ! 

Emilia. Mercy on these princes! 

2"heseus. Ye make my faith reel ; say I felt 
Compassion to 'em both, how would you place it ? 

Emilia. Upon their lives; but with their banishments. 

Theseus. You are a right woman, sister! you have pity. 
But want the understanding where to use it. 
If you desire their lives, invent a way 

Safer than banishment. Can these two live, 220 

And have the agony of love about 'em. 
And. not kill one another.? Every day 
They'd fight about you, hourly bring your honour 
In public question with their swords. Be wise then, 
And here forget 'em ; it concerns your credit, 
And my oath equally : I have said, they die ! 
Better they fall by the law than one another. 
Bow not my honour. 

Emilia. O my noble brother, 

That oath was rashly made, and in your anger; 
Your reason will not hold it : if such vows 230 

Stand for express will, all the world must perish. 
Beside, I have another oath 'gainst yours, 
Of more authority, I 'm sure more love ; 
Not made in passion neither, but good heed. 

Theseus. What is it, sister ? 

Pirithous. Urge it home, brave lady ! 

Emilia. That you would ne'er deny me anything 
Fit for my modest suit and your free granting. 
I tie you to your word now; if ye fail in 't, 
Think bow you maim your honour ; 

For now I am set a-begging, sir, I am deaf 240 

To all but your compassion. How their lives 



ACT III. SCENE VL m 

Might breed the ruin of my name's opinion ! 

Shall any thing that loves me perish for me ? 

That were a cruel wisdom ; do men proin 

The straight young boughs that blush with thousand blossoms, 

Because they may be rotten ? O duke Theseus, 

The goodly mothers that have groan'd for these, 

And all the longing maids that ever lov'd, 

If your vow siand, shall curse me and my beauty, 

And, in their funeral songs for these two cousins, 250 

Despise my cruelty and cry woe worth me, 

Till I am nothing but the scorn of women. 

For heaven's sake save their lives, and banish 'em ! 

Theseus. On what conditions ? 

Emilia. Swear 'em never more 

To make me their contention, or to know me. 
To tread upon thy dukedom, and to be, 
Wherever they shall travel, ever strangers 
To one another. 

Palamon. I '11 be cut a-pieces 

Before I take this oath ! Forget I love her ? 

all ye gods, despise me then ! Thy banishment 25o 

1 not mislike, so we may fairly carry 

Our swords and cause along ; else never trifle, 
But take our lives, duke ! I must love, and will; 
And for that love must and dare kill this cousin. 
On any piece the earth has. 

Theseus. Will you, Arcite, 

Take these conditions 1 

Palamon. He 's a villain then ! 

Pirithous. These are men ! 

Arcite. No, never, dukej 't is worse to me than begging, 
To take my life so basely. Though I think 
I never shall enjoy her, yet I '11 preserve 270 

The honour of affection, and die for her. 
Make death a devil. 



112 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Theseus. What may be done ? for now I feel compassion. 

Pirithous. Let it not fall again, sir ! 

Theseus. Say, Emilia, 

If one of them were dead, as one must, are you 
Content to take the other to your husband ? 
They cannot both enjoy you. They are princes 
As goodly as your own eyes, and as noble 
As ever fame yet spoke of: look upon 'em, 
And if you can love, end this difference ; 2S0 

I give consent. — Are you content, too, princes ? 

Both. With all our souls. 

Theseus. He that she refuses 

Must die then. 

Both. Any death thou canst invent, duke. 

Palamon. If I fall from that mouth, I fall with favour, 
And lovers yet unborn shall bless my ashes. 

Arcite. If she refuse me, yet my grave will wed me, 
And soldiers sing my epitaph. 

Theseus. Make choice then. 

Emilia, I cannot, sir; they are both too excellent: 
For me, a hair shall never fall of these men. 

Hippolyta. What will become of 'em .'' 

Theseus. Thus I ordain it; 

And, by mine honour, once again it stands, 291 

Or both shall die ! — You shall both to your country ; 
And each, within this month, accompanied 
With three fair knights, appear again in this place. 
In which I '11 plant a pyramid : and whether. 
Before us that are here, can force his cousin 
By fair and knightly strength to touch the pillar. 
He shall enjoy her; the other lose his head, 
And all his friends ; nor shall he grudge to fall. 
Nor think he dies with interest in this lady. 300 

Will this content ye? 

Palamon. Yes. — Here, cousin Arcite, 

I am friends again till that hour. 



ACT III. SCENE VI. 



113 



Arcite. I embrace ye. 

Theseus. Are you content, sister ? 

Ejnilia. Yes ; I must, sir. 

Else botli miscarry. 

Theseus. Come, shake hands again then ; 

And take heed, as you are gentlemen, this quarrel 
Sleep till the hour prefix'd, and hold your course. 

Pala7non. We dare not fail thee, Theseus. 

Theseus. Come, I '11 give ye 

Now usage like to princes and to friends. 
When ye return, who wins, I '11 settle here ; 
Who loses, yet I '11 weep upon his bier. \Exeunt, 




H 




ACT IV. 

Scene I. Athens. A Room in the Prison. 
Enter Gaoler and First Friend. 

Gaoler. Hear you no more ? Was nothing said of me 
Concerning the escape of Palamon ? 
Good sir, remember ! 

I Friend. Nothing that I heard ; 



ACT IV. SCENE I. 115 

For I came home before the business 

Was fully ended : yet I might perceive, 

Ere I departed, a great likelihood 

Of both their pardons ; for Hippolyta 

And fair-eyed Emily upon their knees 

Begg'd with such handsome pity, that the duke 

Methought stood staggering whether he should follow 10 

His rash oath or the sweet compassion 

Of those two ladies ; and to second them, 

That truly noble prince Pirithous, 

Half his own heart, set in too, that I hope 

All shall be well : neither heard I one question 

Of your name or his scape. 

Gaoler. Pray heaven, it hold so ! 

Enter Second Friend. 

2 Friend. Be of good comfort, man ! 1 bring you news, 
Good news. 

Gaoler. They 're welcome. 

2 Friend. Palamon has cfear'd you 

And got your pardon, and discover'd how 
And by whose means he scap'd, which was your daughter's, 
Whose pardon is procur'd too ; and the prisoner — 21 

Not to be held ungrateful to her goodness- 
Has given a sum of money to her marriage, 
A large one, I '11 assure you. 

Gaoler. Ye 're a good man 

And ever bring good news. 

1 Friend. How was it ended ? 

2 Friend. Why, as it should be ; they that never begg'd 
But they prevail'd had their suits fairly granted ; 

The prisoners have their lives. 

1 Friend. I knew 't would be so. 

2 Friend. But there be new conditions, which you '11 hear of 
At better time. 



Il6 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Gaokr. I hope they are good. 

2 Friend. They 're honourable ; 

How good they '11 prove, I know not. 

1 Friend. 'T will be known. 31 

Enter Wooer. 

Wooer. Alas, sir, where 's your daughter? 

Gaoler. Why do you ask ? 

Wooer. O, sir, when did you see her ? 

2 Friend. How he looks ! 
Gaoler. This morning. 

Wooer. Was she well ? was she in health, sir ? 

Where did she sleep ? 

I Friend. These are strange questions. 

Gaoler. I do not think she was very well; for, now 
You make me mind her, but this very day 
I ask'd her questions, and she answer'd me 
So far from what she was, so childishly, 
So sillily, as if she were a fool, 40 

An innocent; and I was very angry. 
But what of her, sir ? 

Wooer. Nothing but my pity; 

But you must know it, and as good by me 
As by another that less loves her. 

Gaoler. Well, sir ? 

1 Friend. Not right ? 

2 Friend. Not well 1 

Wooer. No, sir, not well ; 

'Tis too true, she is mad. 

I Friend. It cannot be. 

Wooer. Believe, you '11 find it so. 

Gaoler. I half suspected 

What you have told me ; the gods comfort her ! 
Either this was her love to Palamon, 

Or fear of my miscarrying on his scape, 50 

Or both. 



AC 7^ IV. SCEiVE I, , 117 

Wooer. 'T is likely. 

Gaoler. But why all this haste, sir ? 

Wooer. I '11 tell you quickly. As I late was angling 
In the great lake that lies behind the palace, 
From the far shore, thick-set with reeds and sedges, 
As patiently I was attending sport, 
I heard a voice, a shrill one, and attentive 
I gave my ear ; when I might well perceive 
'T was one that sung, and, by the smallness of it, 
A boy or woman. I then left my angle 
To his own skill, came near, but yet perceiv'd not 60 

Who made the sound, the rushes and the reeds 
Had so encompass'd it. I laid me down. 
And listen'd to the words she sung; for then, 
Through a small glade cut by the fishermen, 
I saw it was your daughter. 

Gaoler. Pray go on, sir ! 

Wooer. She sung much, but no sense j only I heard her 
Repeat this often : ' Palamon is gone. 
Is gone to the wood to gather mulberries ; 
I '11 find him out to-morrow.' 

I Friend. Pretty soul ! 

Wooer. ' His shackles will betray him, he '11 be taken ; 70 
And what shall I do then ? I '11 bring a bevy, 
A hundred black-eyed maids that love as I do. 
With chaplets on their heads of daffodillies, 
With cherry lips, and cheeks of damask roses, 
And all we '11 dance an antic fore the duke. 
And beg his pardon.' Then she talk'd of you, sir; 
That you must lose your head to-morrow morning, 
And she must gather flowers to bury you. 
And see the house made handsome. Then she sung 
Nothing but 'Willow, willow, willow;' and between 80 

Ever was, ' Palamon, fair Palamon !' 
And ' Palamon was a tall young man !' The place 



Il8 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Was knee-deep where she sat ; her careless tressed 

A wreath of bulrush rounded ; about her stuck 

Thousand fresh water-flowers of several colours ; 

That methought she appeared like the fair nymph 

That feeds the lake with waters, or as Iris 

Newly dropt down from heaven. Rings she made 

Of rushes that grew by, and to 'em spoke 

The prettiest posies, — ' Thus our true love ^s tied,' go 

'This you may lose, not me,' and many a one ; 

And then she wept, and sung again, and sigh'd, 

And with the same breath smil'd and kiss'd her hand. 

2 Friend. Alas, what pity 't is 1 

Wooer. I made in to her ; 

She saw me, and straight sought the flood; I sav'd her. 
And set her safe to land ; when presently 
She slipt away, and to the city made 
With such a cry and swiftness that, believe me. 
She left me far behind her. Three or four 
I saw from far off cross her, one of 'em loo 

I knew to be your brother; where she stay'd. 
And fell, scarce to be got away : I left them with her. 
And hither came to tell you. Here they are ! 

Enter Gaoler's Brother, Daughter, and others. 

Daughter. [Sings] May you never more enjoy the light, 
etc. 
Is not this a fine song? 

Brother. O, a very fine one I 

Daughter. I can sing twenty more. 

Brother. I think you can. 

Daughter. Yes, truly can I ; I can sing ' The Broom,' 
And 'Bonny Robin.' Are not you a tailor? 

Brother. Yes. 

Daughter. Where 's my wedding-gown ? 

Brother. I '11 bring it to-morrow. 



ACT IV. SCENE L 1 19 

Daughter. Do, very rarely; 1 must be abroad else, no 
To call the maids, and pay the minstrels. 

[Sings] Ofai?', O sweet, etc. 

Brother. You must even take it patiently. 

Gaoler. *T is true. 

Daughter. Good even, good men ! Pray did you ever 
hear 
Of one young Palamon ? 

Gaoler. Yes, wench, we know him. 

Daughter. Is 't not a fine young gentleman ? 

Gaoler. 'T is love ! 

Brother. By no means cross her; she is then distemper'd 
Far worse than now she shews. 

I Friend. Yes, he 's a fine man. 

Daughter. O, is he so ? You have a sister ? 

I Friend. Yes. 

Daughter. But she shall never have him, tell her so, 120 
For a trick that I know ; y' had best look to her, 
For if she see him once, she 's gone, she 's done 
And undone in an hour. All the young maids 
Of our town are in love with him ; but I laugh at 'em. 
And let 'em all alone : is 't not a wise course ? 

I Friend. Yes. 

Daughter. They come from all parts of the dukedom to 
him ; 
I '11 warrant ye — 

Gaoler. She 's lost. 

Past all cure ! 

Brother. Heaven forbid, man ! 129 

Daughter. Come hither ; you 're a wise man. 

1 Friend. Does she know him ? 

2 Friend. No ; would she did ! 

Daughter. You 're .master of a ship t 

Gaoler. Yes. 

Daughter. Where 's your compass ? 



120 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

^ Gaoler. Here. 

Daughter. Set it to the north ; 

And now direct your course to the wood, where Palamon 
Lies longing for me ; for the tackling 
Let me alone : come, weigh, my hearts, cheerly ! 

All. Owgh, owgh, owgh ! 't is up, the wind is fair ; 
Top the bowling; out with the mainsail ! 
Where 's your whistle, master ? 

Brother. Let 's get her in. 

Gaoler. Up to the top, boy ! 
: Brother. Where 's the pilot ? 

1 Friend. Here. 
Daughter. What kenn'st thou? 

2 Friend. A fair wood. 140 
Daughter. Bear for it, master ; tack about ! 

[Sings] When Cynthia with her borrowed lights etc. [Exeunt. 

Scene II. Athens. A Room in the Palace. 

Enter Emilia, with two pictures. 

Emilia. Yet I may bind those wounds up, that must open 
And bleed to death for my sake else. I '11 choose. 
And end their strife ; two such young handsome men 
Shall never fall for me : their weeping mothers. 
Following the dead-cold ashes of their sons. 
Shall never curse my cruelty. Good heaven, 
What a sweet face has Arcite ! If wise Nature, 
With all her best endowments, all those beauties 
She sows into the births of noble bodies. 
Were here a mortal woman, and had in her 10 

The coy denials of young maids, yet doubtless 
She would run mad for this man. What an eye. 
Of what a fiery sparkle and quick sweetness. 
Has this young prince ! here Love himself sits smiling; 
Just such another wanton Ganymede 



ACT IV. SCENE 11. 12 1 

Set Jove afire with, and enforc'd the god 

Snatch up the goodly boy, and set him by hmi, 

A shining constellation. What a brow, 

Of what a spacious majesty, he carries, 

Arch'd like the great-eyed Juno's, but far sweeter, 20 

Smoother than Pelops' shoulder ! Fame and Honour, 

Methinks, from hence, as from a promontory 

Pointed in heaven, should clap their wings, and sing 

To all the under-world the loves and fights 

Of gods and such men near 'em. Palamon 

Is but his foil; to him, a mere dull shadow; 

He 's swarth and meagre, of an eye as heavy 

As if he had lost his mother; a still temper, 

No stirring in him, no alacrity; 

Of all this sprightly sharpness, not a smile. — 30 

Yet these that we count errors, may become him; 

Narcissus was a sad boy, but a heavenly. 

O, who can find the bent of woman's fancy? 

1 am a fool, my reason is lost in me ; 

I have no choice, and I have lied so lewdly 

That women ought to beat me. — On my knees 

I ask thy pardon, Palamon ! Thou art alone. 

And only beautiful ; and these the eyes. 

These the bright lamps of beauty, that command 

And threaten Love, and what young maid dare cross 'em? 40 

What a bold gravity, and yet inviting, 

Has this brown manly face ! O Love, this only 

From this hour is complexion. Lie there, Arcite ! 

Thou art a changeling to him, a mere gipsy, 

And this the noble body. — I am sotted. 

Utterly lost ! my virgin's faith has fled me ! 

For if my brother but e'en now had ask'd me 

Whether I lov'd, I had run mad for Arcite ; 

Now if my sister, more for Palamon. — 

Stand both together !^ — Now come, ask me, brother; — 50 



122 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Alas, I know not ! — Ask me now, sweet sister; — 
I may go look !' — What a mere child is fancy, 
That, having two fair gawds of equal sweetness, 
Cannot distinguish, but must cry for both ! — 

Enter a Gentleman. 

How now, sir? 

Gentleman. From the noble duke your brother, 
Madam, I bring you news : the knights are come ! 

Emilia. To end the quarrel ? 

Gentleman. Yes. 

Emilia. Would I might end first ! 

What sins have I committed, chaste Diana, 
That my unspotted youth must now be soil'd 
With blood of princes ? and my chastity 60 

Be made the altar, where the lives of lovers — 
Two greater and two better never yet 
Made mothers joy — must be the sacrifice 
To my unhappy beauty? 

Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Pirithous, and Attendants. 

Theseus. Bring 'em in 

Quickly, by any means ! I long to see 'em. — 
Your two contending lovers are return'd. 
And with them their fair knights ; now, my fair sister, 
You must love one of them. 

Ejnilia. I had rather both, 

So neither for my sake should fall untimely. 

Theseus. Who saw 'em ? 

Firithous. I a while. 

Gentleman. And I. 70 

Enter Messenger. 

Theseus. From whence come you, sir ? 

Messenger. From the knights. 



ACT IF. SCENE II. 1 23 

Theseus. Pray speak, 

You that have seen them, what- they are. 

Messenger. I will, sir, 

And truly what I think. Six braver spirits 
Than these they have brought — if we judge by the outside — 
I never saw nor read of. He that stands 
In the first place with Arcite, by his seeming 
Should be a stout man, by his face a prince, — 
His very looks so say him ; his complexion 
Nearer a brown than black; stern, and yet noble. 
Which shows him hardy, fearless, proud of dangers; 80 

The circles of his eyes show fire within him. 
And as a heated lion, so he looks; 
His hair hangs long behind him, black and shining 
Like ravens' wings; his shoulders broad and strong; 
Arm'd long and round: and on his thigh a sword 
Hung by a curious baldrick, when he frowns 
To seal his will with ; better, o' my conscience, 
Was never soldier's friend. 

Theseus. Thou hast well describ'd him. 

Pirithous. Yet a great deal short, 

Methinks, of him that 's first with Palamon. 90 

Theseus. Pray speak him, friend. 

Pirithous. I guess he is a prince too. 

And, if it may be, greater; for his show 
Has all the ornament of honour in 't. 
He 's somewhat bigger than the knight he spoke of, 
But of a face far sweeter; his complexion 
Is, as a ripe grape, ruddy ; he has felt, 
Without doubt, what he fights for, and so apter 
To make this cause his own ; in 's face appears 
All the fair hopes of what he undertakes ; 
And when he 's angry, then a settled valour, 100 

Not tainted with extremes, runs through his body. 
And guides his arm to brave things ; fear he cannot, 



124 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



He shows no such soft temper, flis head 's yellow, 

Hard-hair'd, and curl'd, thick twin'd, like ivy-tods, 

Not to undo with thunder; in his face 

The livery of the warlike maid appears, 

Pure red and white, for yet no beard has blest him ; 

And in his rolling eyes sits Victory, 

As if she ever meant to crown his valour; 

His nose stands high, a character of honour; no 

His red lips, after fights, are fit for ladies. — 

Emilia. Must these men die too ? 

Pirithous. When he speaks, his tongue 

Sounds like a trumpet ; all his lineaments 
Are as a man would wish 'em, strong and clean ; 
He wears a well-steel'd axe, the staff of gold ; 
His age some five-and-twenty. 

Messenger. There 's another, 

A little man, but of a tough soul, seeming 
As great as any ; fairer promises 
In such a body yet I never look'd on. ng 

Pirithous. O, he that 's freckled-fac'd ? 

Messenger. The same, my lord ; 

Are they not sweet ones ? 

Pirithous. Yes, they 're well. 

Messenger. Methinks, 

Being so few and well dispos'd, they show 
Great and fine art in nature. He 's white-hair'd, 
Not wanton-white, but such a manly colour 
Next to an auburn ; tough, and nimble-set. 
Which shews an active soul ; his arms are brawny, 
Lin'd with strong sinews ; to the shoulder-piece 
Gently they swell, like women new-conceiv'd, 
Which speaks him prone to labour, never fainting 
Under the weight of arms ; stout-hearted, still, 130 

But, when he stirs, a tiger ; he 's grey-eyed, 
Which yields compassion where he conquers ; sharp 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 



125 



To spy advantages, and where he finds 'em 

He 's swift to make 'em his; he does no wrongs, 

Nor takes none ; he 's round-fac'd, and when he smiles 

He shows a lover, when he frowns a soldier. 

About his head he wears the winner's oak, 

And in it stuck the favour of his lady ; 

His age, some six-and-thirty. In his hand 

He bears a charging-staff, emboss'd with silver. 140 

Theseus. Are they all thus ? 

Pirithous. They 're all the sons of honour. 

Theseus. Now, as I have a soul, I long to see 'em ! — 
Lady, you shall see men fight now. 

Hippolyta. I wish it. 

But not the cause, my lord : they would shew 
Bravely about the titles of two kingdoms ; 
'T is pity love should be so tyrannous. — 
Oh, my soft-hearted sister, what think you ? 
Weep not, till they weep blood, wench ! it must be. 

Theseus. You have steel'd 'em with your beauty. — Honour'd 
friend. 
To you I give the field ; pray order it 150 

Fitting the persons that must use it ! 

Pirithous. Yes, sir. 

Theseus. Come, I '11 go visit 'em ; I cannot stay — 
Their fame has fir'd me so — till they appear. 
Good friend, be royal ! 

Pirithous. There shall want no braver}^ 

Emilia. Poor wench, go weep ; for whosoever wins 
Loses a noble cousin for thy sins. \Exeu?tf. 

Scene III. Athens. A Room in the Prison. 

Enter Gaoler, Wooer, and Doctor. 

Doctor. Her distraction is more at some time of the moon 
than at other some, is it not .'' 



126 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Gaoler, She is continually in a harmless distemper ; sleeps 
little, altogether without appetite, save often drinking; 
dreaming of another world, and a better ; and what broken 
piece of matter soe'er she 's about, the name Palamon lards 
it ; that she farces every business withal, fits it to every 
question. — Look, where she comes ! you shall perceive her 
behaviour. 9 

Enter Daughter. 

Daughter. I have forgot it quite ; the burden on 't was 
' down-a down-a ;' and penned by no worse man than Ge- 
raldo, Emilia's schoolmaster : he 's as fantastical, too, as 
ever he may go upon 's legs ; for in the next world will Dido 
see Palamon, and then will she be out of love with ^neas. 

Doctor. What stuff 's here ! poor soul ! 

Gaoler. Even thus all day long. 

Daughter. Now for this charm, that I told j^ou of: you 
must bring a piece of silver on the tip of your tongue, or no 
ferry; then if it be your chance to come where the blessed 
spirits are — there 's a sight now! — we maids that have our 
livers perished, cracked to pieces with love, we shall come 
there, and do nothing all day long but pick flowers with 
Proserpine ; then will I make Palamon a nosegay ; then 
let him — mark me — then — 24 

Doctor. How prettily she 's amiss ! note her a little further. 

Daughter. Faith, I '11 tell you ; sometime we go to barley- 
break, we of the blessed. Alas, 't is a sore life they have i' 
the other place, such burning, hissing, howling, chattering, 
cursing ! O, they have shrewd measure ! Take heed : if one 
be mad, or hang or drown themselves, thither they go, Jupiter 
bless us ! and there shall they be put in a cauldron of lead 
and usurers' "grease, amongst a whole million of cutpurses, 
and there boil like a gammon of bacon that will never be 
enough. 34 

Doctor. How she continues this fancy! 'T is not an en- 
graffed madness, but a most thick and profound melancholy. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 



127 



Daughter. To hear there a proud lady and a proud city- 
wife howl together ! I were a beast, an I 'd call it good 
sport ! 
[Sings] / will he true, my stars, my fate, etc. \Exit Daughter. 

Gaoler. What think you of her, sir ? 

Doctor. I think she has a perturbed mind, which I cannot 
minister to. 

Gaoler. Alas, what then ? 44 

Doctor. Understand you she ever affected any man ere 
she beheld Palamon ? 

Gaoler. I was once, sir, in great hope she had fixed her 
liking on this gentleman, my friend. 

Wooer. I did think so too ; and would account I had a 
great pen'worth on 't, to give half my state, that both she 
and I at this present stood unfeignedly on the same terms. 

Doctor. That intemperate surfeit of her eye hath dis- 
tempered the other senses ; they may return, and settle 
again to execute their preordained faculties ; but they are 
now in a most extravagant vagary. This you must do: con- 
fine her to a place where the light may rather seem to steal 
in than be permitted. Take upon you, young sir, her friend, 
the name of Palamon ; say you come to eat with her, and 
to commune of love ; this will catch her attention, for this 
her mind beats upon ; other objects, that are inserted 
'tween her mind and eye, become the pranks and friskings 
of her madness. Sing to her such green songs of love as 
she says Palamon hath sung in prison ; come to her, stuck 
in as sweet flowers as the season is mistress of, and thereto 
make an addition of some other compounded odours which 
are grateful to the sense : all this shall become Palamon, for 
Palamon can sing, and Palamon is sweet, and every good 
thing. Desire to eat with her, carve her, drink to her, and 
still among intermingle your petition of grace and accept- 
ance into her favour \ learn what maids have been her com- 
panions and play-feres ; and let them repair to her with 



128 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



Palamon in their mouths, and appear with tokens, as if 
they suggested for him. It is a falsehood she is in, which is 
with falsehoods to be combated. This may bring her to 
eat, to sleep, and reduce what is now out of square in her 
into their former law and regiment. I have seen it approved, 
how many times I know not j but to make the number more, 
I have great hope in this. I will, between the passages of 
this project, come in with my appliance. Let us put it in 
execution, and hasten the success, which, doubt not, will 
bring forth comfort. \Exeunt, 





THE DEATH OF ARCITE. 



ACT V. 

Scene I. Athens. An Opeii Space before the Temples of 
Mars, Venus ^ and Diana. 

^;//<?r Theseus, Pirithous, Hippolyta, dr//// Attendants. 
Theseus. Now let 'em enter, and before the gods 
Tender their holy prayers ! Let the temples 
Burn bright with sacred fires, and the altars 
In hallow'd clouds commend their swelling incense 
To those above us ! Let no due be wanting ! 

[Flourish of corfiets. 
They have a noble work in hand, will honour 
The very powers that love 'em. 

Efiter Palamon, Arcite, and their Knights. 
Pirithous. Sir, they enter. 



130 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Theseus. You valiant and strong-hearted enemies, 
You xo^?\ germane foes, that this day come 
To blow the nearness out that flames between ye, 10 

Lay by your anger for an hour, and dove-like 
Before the holy altars of your helpers, 
The all-fear'd gods, bow down your stubborn bodies. 
Your ire is more than mortal : so your help be ! 
And as the gods regard ye, fight with justice ! 
I '11 leave you to your prayers, and betwixt ye 
I part my wishes. 

Firithous. Honour crown the worthiest! 

[Exeunt Theseus and train. 

Palamon. The glass is running now that cannot finish 
Till one of us expire : think you but thus, — 
That, were there aught in me which strove to shew 2c 

Mine enemy in this business, were 't one eye 
Against another, arm oppress'd by arm, 
I would destroy the offender ; coz, I would, 
Though parcel of myself : then from this gather 
How I should tender you. 

Arcite. I am in labour 

To push your name, your ancient love, our kindred, 
Out of my memory ; and i' the self-same place 
To seat something I would confound : so hoist we 
The sails that must these vessels port even where 
The heavenly Li miter pleases ! 

Palamoft. You speak well. 36 

Before I turn, let me embrace thee, cousin. \They embrace. 
This I shall never do again. 

Arcite. One farewell ! 

Palamon. Why, let it be so ; farewell, coz ! 

Arcite. Farewell, sfr \- — 

^Exeunt Palamon and his Knights. 
Knights, kinsmen, lovers, yea, my sacrifices. 
True worshippers of Mars, whose spirit in you 



ACT V. SCEiVE I. 



131 



Expels the seeds of fear, and the apprehension 

Which still is father of it, go with me 

Before the god of our profession. There 

Require of him the hearts of lions, and 

The breath of tigers, yea, the fierceness too ; 40 

Yea, the speed also, — to go on, I mean, 

Else wish we to be snails. You know my prize 

Must be dragg'd out of blood ; force and great feat 

Must put my garland on, where she will stick 

The queen of flowers. Our intercession, then, 

Must be to him that makes the camp a cestron 

Brimm'd with the blood of men ; give me your aid, 

And bend your spirits towards him. — 

\They advaiice to the altar of Mars ^ and fall on their 

faces ; then kneel. 
Thou mighty one, that with thy power hast turn'd 
Green Neptune into purple ; whose approach 50 

Comets prewarn ; whose havoc in vast field 
Unearthed skulls proclaim ; whose breath blows down 
The teeming Ceres' foison ; who dost pluck 
With hand armipotent from forth blue clouds 
The mason'd turrets ; that both mak'st and break'st 
The stony girths of cities ; me, thy pupil, 
Young'st follower of thy drum, instruct this day 
With military skill, that to thy laud 
I may advance my streamer, and by thee 
Be styl'd the lord o' the day. Give me, great Mars, 60 

Some token of thy pleasure. 

\Here they fall on their faces as before^ and there is 

heard clanging of armour, with a short thunder, as 

the burst of a battle, itf hereupon they all rise, and bow 

to the altar. 
O great corrector of enormous times, 
Shaker of o'er-rank states, thou grand decider 
Of dusty and old titles, that heal'st with blood 



132 THE TWO NOBLE KINS ME xV. 

The earth when it is sick, and cur'st the world 

O' the plurisy of people, I do take 

Thy signs auspiciously, and in thy name 

To my design march boldly ! — Let us go. [Jixeunf. 

Re-enter Palamon and his Knights. 

Palamon. Our stars must glister with new fires, or be 
To-day extinct ; our argument is love, 7° 

Which if the goddess of it grant, she gives 
Victory too : then blend your spirits with mine, 
You whose free nobleness do make my cause 
Your personal hazard. To the goddess Venus 
Commend we our proceeding, and implore 
Her power unto our party ! — 

\Here ihey advance to the altar of Venus, and fall on their 
faces ; then kneel. _, 

Hail, sovereign queen of secrets ! who hast power 
To call the fiercest tyrant from his rage, 
And weep unto a girl ; that hast the might 
Even with an eye-glance to choke Mars's drum, 8° 

And turn the alarm to whispers ; that canst make 
A cripple flourish with his crutch, and cure him 
Before Apollo ; that mayst force the king 
To be his subject's vassal, and induce 
Stale gravity to dance ; the polled bachelor, 
Whose youth, like wanton boys through bonfires. 
Have skipt thy flame, at seventy thou canst catch, 
And make him, to the scorn of his hoarse throat, 
Abuse young lays of love. What godlike power 
Hast thou not power upon ? To Phoebus thou 9© 

Add'st flames, hotter than his ; the heavenly fires 
Did scorch his mortal son, thine him ; the huntress, 
All moist and cold, some say, began to throw 
Her bow away and sigh. Take to thy grace 
Me thy vow'd soldier, who do bear thy yoke 



ACT V. SCENE I. 



133 



As 't were a wreath of roses, yet is heavier 

Than lead itself, stings more than nettles. I 

Have never been foul-mouth'd against thy law, 

Ne'er reveal'd secret, for I knew none, — would not, 

Had I kenn'd all that were ; I never practis'd 100 

Upon man's wife, nor would the libels read 

Of liberal wits ; I never at great feasts 

Sought to betray a beauty, but have blush'd 

At simpering sirs that did ; I have been harsh 

To large confessors, and have hotly ask'd them 

If they had mothers. I had one, a woman, 

And women 't were they wrong'd. I knew a man 

Of eighty winters — this I told them — who 

A lass of fourteen brided. 'T was thy power 

To put life into dust; the aged cramp no 

Had screw'd his square foot round, 

The gout had knit his fingers into knots, 

Torturing convulsions from his globy eyes 

Had almost drawn their spheres, that what was life 

In him seem'd torture. This anatomy 

Had by his young fair fere a boy, and I 

Believ'd it was his, for she swore it was. 

And who would not believe her.'' Brief, I am 

To those that prate, and have done, no companion ; 

To those that boast, and have not, a defier ; 120 

To those that would, and cannot, a rejoicer; 

Yea, him I do not love that tells close offices 

The foulest way, nor names concealments in 

The boldest language : such a one I am. 

And vow that lover never yet made sigh 

Truer than I. O, then, most soft sweet goddess, 

Give me the victory of this question, which 

Is true love's merit, and bless me with a sign 

Of thy great pleasure ! 

S^Here music is heard ^ doves are seen to flutter; they 
fall again upon their faces ^ then on their knees. 



134 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



O thou that from eleven to ninety reign'st 130 

In mortal bosoms, whose chase is this world, 

And we in herds thy game, I give thee thanks 

For this fair token, which, being laid unto 

Mine innocent true heart, arms in assurance 

My body to this business ! — Let us rise 

And bow before the goddess; time comes on. 

\7'hey bow, then exeunt. 

Still wusic of 7'ecords. Efiter Emilia in white., her hair about 
her shoulders, and wearing a wheaten wreath ; 07u i?t white 
holding up her train, her hair stuck with flo7vers ; one before 
her carrying a silver hind, in which is conveyed incense and 
sweet odours, which being set upon the altar of Diana, her 
Maids standifzg aloof she sets f re to it; then they curtsy and 
kneel. 

Emilia. O sacred, shadowy, cold, and constant queen, 
Abandoner of revels, mute, contemplative, 
Sweet, solitary, white as chaste, and puje 
As wind-fann'd snow, who to thy female knights 140 

Allow'st no more blood than will make a blush^ 
^ Which is their order's robe, ] here, thy priest, 
Am humbled fore thine altar ! O, vouchsafe, 
With that thy rare green eye — which never yet 
Beheld thing maculate — look on thy virgin ! 
And, sacred silver mistress, lend thine ear — 
Which ne'er heard scurril term, into whose port 
Ne'er enter'd wanton sound — ^lo my petition, 
Season'd with holy fear! This is my last 
Of vestal office; I 'm bride-habited, 150 

But maiden-hearted ; a husband I have pointed, 
But do not know him; out of two I should 
Choose one, and pray for his success, but I 
Am guiltless of election; of mine eyes, 
Were I to lose one — they are equal precious — 



ACT V. SCENE IL 135 

I could doom neither; that which perish'd should 

Go to 't unsentenc'd: therefore, most modest queen, 

He, of the two pretenders, that best loves me 

And has the truest title in 't, let him 

Take off my wheaten garland, or else grant 160 

The file and quality I hold I may 

Continue in thy band. — 

\IIere the hind vanishes under the altar, and in the 

place ascends a rose-tree, having one rose upon it. 
See what our general of ebbs and flows 
Out from the bowels of her holy altar 
With sacred act advances ! But one rose ! 
If well inspir'd, this battle shall confound 
Both these brave knights, and I, a virgin flower, 
Must grow alone, unpluck'd. 

[Ifere is heard a sudden twang of instruments, and 

the rose falls fro77i the tree, which va7iishes under 

the altar. 
The flower is fallen, the tree descends ! — O mistress, 
Thou here dischargest me ! I shall be gather'd, 170 

I think so; but I know not thine own will: 
Unclasp thy mystery ! — I hope she 's pleas'd ; 
Her signs were gracious. \They curtsy, and exeunt. 

Scene II. A Roojn in the Prison. 

Ejiter Doctor, Gaoler, and Wooer in the habit of Palamon. 

Doctor. Has this advice I told you done any good upon 

her? 
Wooer. O, very much: the maids that kept her com- 
pany 
Have half persuaded her that I am Palamon ; 
W^ithin this half-hour she came smiling to me, 
And ask'd me what I 'd eat, and when I 'd kiss her. 
I told her presently, and kiss'd her twice. 



136 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Doctor. 'T was well done; twenty times had been far bet- 
ter, 
For there the cure lies mainly. 

Wooer. Then she told me 

She would watch with me to-night, for well she knew 
What hour my fit would take me. 

Doctor. Let her do so. 10 

Wooer. She would have me sing. 

Doctor. You did so ? 

Wooer. No. 

Doctor. 'T was very ill done, then ; 
You should observe her every way. 

Wooer. Alas ! 

I have no voice, sir, to confirm her that way. 

Doctor. That's all one, if ye make a noise; 
If she entreat again, do any thing; 
Lie with her, if she ask you. 

Gaoler. Ho there, doctor ! 

Doctor. Yes, in the way of cure. 

Gaoler. But first, by your leave, 

I' the way of honesty. 

Doctor. That 's but a niceness; 

Ne'er cast your child away for honesty. 20 

Cure her first this way; then, if she '11 be honest, 
She has the path before her. 

Gaoler. Thank you, doctor. 

Doctor. Pray, bring her in, 
And let 's see how she is. 

Gaoler. I will, and tell her 

Her Palamon stays for her; but, doctor, 
Methinks you are i' the wrong still. \Exit. 

Doctor. Go, go ; 

You fathers are fine fools : her honesty ! 
An we should give her physic till we find that — 

Wooer. Why, do you think she is not honest, sir.? 



ACT V. SCENE 11. 



137 



Doctor. How old is she ? 

Wooer. She 's eighteen. 

Doctor. She may be ; 

But that 's all one, 't is nothing to our purpose. 31 

Whate'er her father says, if you perceive 
Her mood inclining that way that I spoke of, 
Videlicet, the way of flesh — you have me ? 

Wooer. Yes, very well, sir. 

Enter Gaoler, Daughter, and Maid. 

Gaoler. Come; your love Palamon stays for you, child; 
And has done this long hour, to visit you. 

Daughter. I thank him for his gentle patience; 
He 's a kind gentleman, and I am much bound to him. 
Did you ne'er see the horse he gave me ? 

Gaoler. Yes. 40 

Daughter. How do you like him ? 

Gaoler. He 's a very fair one. 

Daughter. You never saw him dance.'' 

Gaoler. No. 

Daughter. I have often : 

He dances very finely, very comely ; 
And, for a jig, come cut and long tail to him ! 
He turns ye like a top. ~" 

Gaoler. That 's fine indeed. 

Daughter. He '11 dance the morris twenty mile an hour, — 
And that will founder the best hobby-horse, 
If I have any skill, in all the parish, — 
And gallops to the tune of ' Light o' Love;' 
What think you of this horse ? 

Gaoler. Having these virtues, 50 

I think he might be brought to play at tennis. 

Daughter. Alas, that 's nothing ! 

Gaoler. Can he write and read too. 

Daughter. Avery fair hand, and casts himself the accounts 



138 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



Of all his hay and provender; that hostler 
Must rise betime that cozens him. You know 
The chestnut mare the duke has ? 

Gaoler. Very well. 

Daughter. She is horribly in love with him, poor beast; 
But he is like his master, coy and scornful. 

Gaoler. What dowry has she ? 

Daughter. Some two hundred bottles, 

And twenty strike of oats: but he '11 ne'er have her; 60 

He lisps in 's neighing, able to entice 
A miller's mare; he '11 be the death of her. 

Doctor. What stuff she utters ! 

Gaoler. Make curtsy ; here your lover comes. 

Wooer. Pretty soul, 

How do ye ? That 's a fine maid ! there 's a curtsy ! 

Daughter. Yours to command, i' the way of honesty. 
How far is 't now to the end o' the world, my masters ? 

Doctor. Why, a day's journey, wench. 

Daughter. Will you go with me ? 

Wooer. What shall we do there, wench ? 

Daughter. ■ Why, play at stool-ball. 

What is there else to do ? 

Wooer. I am content, 70 

If we shall keep our wedding there. 

Daughter. 'T is true ; 

For there, I will assure 3^ou, we shall find 
Some blind priest for the purpose, that will venture 
To marry us, for here they are nice and foolish; 
Besides, my father must be hang'd to-morrow, 
And that would be a blot i' the business. 
Are not you Palamon ? 

Wooer. Do not you know me ? 

Daughter. Yes; but you care not for me; I have noth- 
ing 
But this poor petticoat and two coarse smocks. 



ACT V. SCENE 11. 



139 



Wooer. That 's all one; I will have you. 

Daughter. Will you surely ? 

Wooer. Yes, by this fair hand, will I. 

Daughter. We '11 to bed then. 

Wooer. Even when you will. \Kisses her. 

Daughter. O, sir, you 'd fain be nibbling ! 

Wooer. Why do you rub my kiss off.'' 

Daughter. 'T is a sweet one, 

And will perfume me finely against the wedding. — 84 

Is not this your cousin Arcite? 

Doctor. Yes, sweetheart ; 

And I am glad my cousin Paiamon 
Has made so fair a choice. 

Daughter. Do you think he '11 have me ? 

Doctor. Yes, without doubt. 

Da^ighter. Do you think so too ? 

Gaoler. Yes. 

Daicghter. We shall have many children, — Lord, how 
y' are grown ! 
My Paiamon I hope will grow too, finely, 9c 

Now he 's at liberty ; alas, poor chicken ! 
He was kept down with hard meat and ill lodging. 
But I will kiss him up again. 

Enter a Messenger. 

Messenger. What do you here ? you '11 lose the noblest 
sight 
That e'er was seen. 

Gaoler. Are they i' the field ? 

Messenger. They are ; 

You bear a charge there too. 

Gaoler. I '11 away straight. — 

I must even leave you here. 

Doctor. Nay, we '11 go with you ; 

I will not lose the sight. 



I40 1^^^ '^^O NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Gaoler. How did you like her ? 

Doctor. I '11 warrant you, within these three or four days 
I '11 make her right again,— You must not from her, loo 

But still preserve her in this way. 

Wooer. I will. 

Doctor. Let 's get her in. 

Wooer. Come, sweet, we '11 go to dinner ; 

And then we 'II play at cards. [Exeunt. 

Scene III. A Fart of the Forest, near the Flace of Combat. 
Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Emilia, Pirithgus, and At- 
tendants. 

Emilia. I '11 no step further. 

Firithoiis. Will you lose this sight? 

Ej?iilia. I had rather see a wren hawk at a fly 
Than this decision : every blow that falls 
Threats a brave life; each stroke laments 
The place whereon it falls, and sounds more like 
A bell than blade. I will stay here, — 
It is enough my hearing shall be punish'd 
With what shall happen, 'gainst the which there is 
No dealing but to hear, — not taint mine eye 
With dread sights it may shun. 

Firithous. Sir, my good lord, lo 

Your sister will no further. 

Theseus. O, she must ! 

She shall see deeds of honour in their kind. 
Which sometime show well, pencill'd ; nature now 
Shall make and act the story, the belief 
Both seal'd with eye and ear. You must be present; 
You are the victor's meed, the price and garland 
To crown the question's title. 

Emilia. Pardon me; 

If I were there, I 'd wink. 



ACT V. SCENE III, 



141 



Theseus. You must be there ; 

This trial is as 't were i' the night, and you 
The only star to shine. • 

Emilia. I am extinct; 20 

There is but envy in that light which shews 
The one the other. Darkness, which ever was 
The dam of Horror, who does stand accurs'd 
Of many mortal millions, may even now, 
By casting her black mantle over both, 
That neither could find other, get herself 
Some part of a good name, and many a murther 
Set off whereto she 's guilty. 

Hippolyta. You must go. 

E7nilia. In faith, I will not. 

Theseus. Why, the knights must kindle 

Their valour at your eye; know, of this war 30 

You are the treasure, and must needs be by 
To give the service pay. 

Emilia. Sir, pardon me; 

The title of a kingdom may be tried 
Out of itself. 

Theseus. Well, well, then, at your pleasure ! 
Those that remain with you could wish their office 
To any of their enemies. 

Hippolyta. Farewell, sister ! 

I am like to know your husband fore yourself, 
By some small start of time ; he whom the gods 
Do of the two know best, I pray them he 
Be made your lot ! 40 

\Exeunt all except Emilia and some of the Attendants. 

Emilia. Arcite is gently visag'd, yet his eye 
Is like an engine bent, or a sharp weapon 
In a soft sheath ; mercy and manly courage 
Are bedfellows in his visage. Palamon 
Has a most menacing aspect; his brow 



142 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN: 

Is grav'd, and seems to bury what it frowns on : 

Yet sometimes 't is not so, but alters to 

The quality of his thoughts; long time his eye 

Will dwell upon his object. Melancholy 

Becomes him nobly; so does Arcite's mirth: 50 

But Palamon's sadness is a kind of mirth, 

So mingled as if mirth did make him sad. 

And sadness merry ; those darker humours that 

Stick misbecomingiy on others, on him 

Live in fair dwelling. — 

\Cornets. Trumpets sound as to a charge. 
Hark, how yon spurs to spirit do incite 
The princes to their proof! Arcite may win me; 
And yet may Palamon wound Arcite, to 
The spoiling of his figure. O, what pity 
Enough for such a chance ! If I were by, 60 

I might do hurt; for they would glance their eyes 
Toward my seat, and in that motion might 
Omit a ward, or forfeit an offence, 
Which crav'd that very time: it is much better 

\Cornets. Cry within, ' A Palamon !' 
I am not there ; O, better never born 
Than minister to such harm ! — What is the chance? 

Servant. The cry 's ' A Palamon.' 

Emilia. Then he has won. 'T was ever likely; 
He look'd all grace and success, and he is 
Doubtless the prim'st of men. I prithee run, 70 

And tell me how it goes. 

\_Shout, and cornets ; cry, ' A Palamon !' 

Servant. Still ' Palamon.' 

Emilia. Run and inquire. — Y^^^^ Servafit.'] Poor ser- 
vant, thou hast lost ! 
Upon my right side still I wore thy picture, 
Palamon's on the left : why so, I know not; 
I had no end in 't else; chance would have it so. 

\^ Another cry and shout within, and cornets. 



ACT V. SCENE HI. 



143 



On the sinister side the heart lies ; Palamon 

Had the best-boding chance. This burst of clamour 

Is, sure, the end o' the combat. 

Re-enter Servant. 

Servant. They said that Palamon had Arcite's body 
Within an inch o' the pyramid, that the cry 80 

Was general 'A Palamon;' but anon, 
The assistants made a brave redemption, and 
The two bold tilters at this instant are 
Hand to hand at it. 

Emilia. Were they metamorphos'd 

Both into one — O, why, there were no woman 
Worth so compos'd a man ! Their single share, 
Their nobleness peculiar to them, gives 
The prejudice of disparity, value's shortness, 

\Cor?tets. Cry within^ ' Arcite, Arcite !' 
To any lady breathing. — More exulting ! 
' Palamon ' still ? 

Servant. Nay, now the sound is 'Arcite.' 90 

Emilia. I prithee lay attention to the cry ; 

\^Cornets. A great shout and cry, ' Arcite, victory 1' 
Set both thine ears to the business. 

Servant. The cry is 

* Arcite, and victory !' Hark ! ' Arcite, victory !' 
The combat's consummation is proclaim'd 
By the wind-instruments. 

Eitiilia. Half-sights saw 

That Arcite was no babe ; God's lid, his richness 
And costliness of spirit look'd through him ! it could 
No more be hid in him than fire in flax. 
Than humble banks can go to law with waters 
That drift-winds force to raging. I did think ico 

Good Palamon would miscarry ; yet I knew not 
Why I did think so: our reasons are not prophets, 



144 ^-^^ 7"^<^ NOBLE KINSMEN. 

When oft our fancies are. They 're coming off; 

Alas, poor Palamon ! \Corneis, 

Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Pirithous, Arcite as victor, 

Attendants, etc. 

Theseus. Lo, where our sister is in expectation, 
Yet quaking and unsettled ! — Fairest Emily, 
The gods, by their divine arbitrement. 
Have given you this knight; he is a good one 
As ever struck at head. — Give me your hands ! 
Receive you her, you him ; be plighted with no 

A love that grows as you decay ! 

Arcite. Emily, 

To buy you I have lost what 's dearest to me, 
Save what is bought ; and yet I purchase cheaply, 
As I do rate your value. 

Theseus. O, lov'd sister, 

He speaks now of as brave a knight as e'er 
Did spur a noble steed ; surely the gods 
Would have him die a bachelor, lest his race 
Should show i' the world too godlike ! His behaviour 
So charm'd me, that methought Alcides was 
To him a sow of lead ; if I could praise 120 

Each part of him to the all I 've spoke, your Arcite 
Did not lose by 't, for he that was thus good 
Encounter'd yet his better. I have heard 
Two emulous Philomels beat the ear o' the night. 
With their contentious throats, now one the higher. 
Anon the other, then again the first, 
And by and by out-breasted, that the sense 
Could not be judge between 'em ; so it far'd 
Good space between these kinsmen, till heavens did 
Make hardly one the winner. — Wear the garland 130 

With joy that you have won ! — For the subdued, 
Give them our present justice, since I know 



ACT V. SCENE IV. 



145 



Their lives but pinch 'em ; let it here be done. 
The scene 's not for our seeing ; go we hence, 
Right joyful, with some sorrow ! — Arm your prize; 
I know you will not lose her. — Hippolyta, 
I see one eye of yours conceives a tear, 
The which it will deliver. {^Flourish. 

Emilia. Is this winning? 

all you heavenly powers, where is your mercy ? 

But that your wills have said it must be so, 140 

And charge me live to comfort this unfriended, 

This miserable prince, that cuts away 

A life more worthy from him than all women, 

1 should and would die too. 

Hippolyta. Infinite pity. 

That four such eyes should be so fix'd on one 
That two must needs be blind for 't ! 

Theseus. So it is. \^Exeunt. 



Scene IV. The same Part of the Forest as in Act III. Scene VI. 
Efiter Palamon a7td his Knights pinioned, Gaoler, Execu- 
tioner, and Guard. 
Palamon. There 's many a man alive that hath outliv'd 
The love o' the people ; yea, i' the self-same state 
Stands many a father with his child. Some comfort 
We have by so considering; we expire, 
And not without men's pity; to live still 
Have their good wishes ; we prevent 
The loathsome misery of age, beguile 
The gout and rheum, that in lag hours attend 
For grey approachers; we come towards the gods 
Young and unwapper'd, not halting under crimes to 

Many and stale ; that, sure, shall please the gods 
Sooner than such, to give us nectar with 'em, 
For we are more clear spirits. My dear kinsmen, 



146 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 



Whose lives for this poor comfort are laid down, 
You 've sold 'em too-too cheap. 

1 Knight. What ending could be 
Of more content ? O'er us the victors have 
Fortune, whose title is as momentary 

As to us death is certain ; a grain of honour 
They not o'erweigh us. 

2 Knight. Let us bid farewell, 

And with our patience anger tottering Fortune, 20 

Who, at her certain'st, reels. 

3 Knight. Come ; who begins ? 
Falamon. Even he that led you to this banquet shall 

Taste to you all. — Ah ha, my friend, my friend ! 

Your gentle daughter gave me freedom once ; 

You '11 see 't done now for ever. Pray, how does she ? 

I heard she was not well ; her kind of ill 

Gave me some sorrow. 

Gaoler. Sir, she 's well restor'd. 

And to be married shortly. 

Falamon. By my short life, 

I am most glad on 't ! 'T is the latest thing 
I shall be glad of; prithee, tell her so: 30 

Commend me to her, and, to piece her portion, 
Tender her this. [Gives a purse. 

1 Knight. Nay, let 's be offerers all. 

2 Knight. Is, it a maid.'' 

Falamon. Verily, I think so; 

A right good creature, more to me deserving 
Than I can quit or speak of. 

All Knights. Commend us to her. \Give their purses. 

Gaoler. The gods requite you all, 

And make her thankful ! 

Falamon. Adieu ! and let my life be now as short 
As my leave-taking. \Lays his head on the block. 

I Knight. Lead, courageous cousin. 



ACT V. SCENE IV. 147 

2 Knight. We '11 follow cheerfully. 

\^A great noise within, crying., ' Run, save, hold !' 

Enter in haste a Messenger. 
Messenger. Hold, hold ! O, hold, hold, hold ! 40 

Enter Pirithous in haste. 

Pirithoiis. Hold, ho ! it is a cursed haste you made, 
If you have done so quickly. — Noble Palamon, 
The gods will shew their glory in a life 
That thou art yet to lead. 

Palamon. Can that be, when 

Venus I 've said is false 1 How do things fare .'' 

Firithoiis. Arise, great sir, and give the tidings ear 
That are most dearly sweet and bitter ! 

Palamon. What 

Hath wak'd us from our dream? [Palamon rises. 

Pirithous. List then ! Your cousin, 

Mounted upon a steed that Emily 

Did first bestow on him, — a black one, owing 50 

Not a hair-worth of white, which some will say 
Weakens his price, and many will not buy 
His goodness with this note \ which superstition 
Here finds allowance, — on this horse is Arcite, 
Trotting the stones of Athens, which the calkins 
Did rather tell than trample : for the horse 
Would make his length a mile, if 't pleas'd his rider 
To put pride in him : as he thus went counting 
The flinty pavement, dancing as 't were to the music 
His own hoofs made — for, as they say, from iron 60 

Came music's origin — what envious flint. 
Cold as old Saturn, and like him possess'd 
With fire malevolent, darted a spark. 
Or what fierce sulphur else, to this end made, 
I comment not; the hot horse, hot as fire, 



148 ^-^^ ^^O NOBLE KINSMEN. 

Took toy at this, and fell to what disorder 

His power could give his will, bounds, comes on end, 

Forgets school-doing, being therein trained, 

And of kind manage ; pig-like be whines 

At the sharp rowel, which he frets at rather 70 

Than any jot obeys; seeks all foul means 

Of boisterous and rough jadery, to disseat 

His lord that kept it bravely. When nought serv'd, 

When neither curb would crack, girth break, nor differing 

plunges 
Disroot his rider whence he grew, but that 
He kept him *tween his legs, on his hind hoofs 
On end he stands, 

That Arcite's legs, being higher than his head, 
Seem'd with strange art to hang ; his victor's wreath 
Even then fell off his head, and presently 80 

Backward the jade comes o'er, and his full poise 
Becomes the rider's load. Yet is he living; 
But such a vessel 't is that floats but for 
The surge that next approaches : he much desires 
To have some speech with you. Lo, he appears ! 

Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Emilia, aiid Arcite borne in a 

chair. 

Palamon. O miserable end of our alliance ! 
The gods are mighty ! — Arcite, if thy heart, 
Thy worthy manly heart, be yet unbroken, 
Give me thy last words ; I am Palamon, 
One that yet loves thee dying. 

Arcite. Take Emilia, 90 

And with her all the world's joy. Reach thy hand; 
Farewell ! I 've told my last hour. I was false, 
Yet never treacherous ; forgive me, cousin ! — 
One kiss from fair Emilia ! \Kisses her.~\ — 'T is done : 
Take her. I die ! [^Dies. 



AC 7' V. SCENE IV. 149 

Palamon. Thy brave soul seek Elysium ! 

Emilia. I '11 close thine eyes, prince ; blessed souls be 
with thee ! 
Thou art a right good man ; and, while I live, 
This day I give to tears. 

Palamon. And I to honour. 

Theseus. In this place first you fought ; even very here 
I sunder'd you : acknowledge to the gods 100 

Your thanks that you are living. 
His part is play'd, and, though it were too short, 
He did it well ; your day is lengthen'd, and 
The blissful dew of heaven does arrose you. 
The powerful Venus well hath grac'd her altar, 
And given you your love ; our master Mars 
Has vouch'd his oracle, and to Arcite gave 
The grace of the contention : so the deities 
Have show'd due justice. — Bear this hence. 

Palamon. O cousin. 

That we should things desire which do cost us xio 

The loss of our desire ! that nought could buy 
Dear love but loss of dear love ! 

Theseus. Never fortune 

Did play a subtler game : the conquer'd triumphs, 
The victor has the loss ; yet in the passage 
The gods have been most equal. Palamon, 
Your kinsman hath confess'd the right o' the lady 
Did lie in you, for you first saw her and 
Even then proclaim'd your fancy ; he restor'd her, 
As your stolen jewel, and desir'd your spirit 
To send hiai hence forgiven. The gods my justice 120 

Take from my hand, and they themselves become 
The executioners. Lead your lady off; 
And call your lovers from the stage of death, 
Whom I adopt my friends. A day or two 
Let us look sadly, and give grace unto 



ISO 



THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN, 



The funeral of Arcite ; in whose end 

The visages of bridegrooms we '11 put on, 

And smile with Palamon, for whom an hour, 

But one hour since, I was as dearly sorry 

As glad of Arcite, and am now as glad 130 

As for him sorry. — O you heavenly charmers. 

What things you make of us ! For what we lack 

We laugh, for what we have are sorry ; still 

Are children in some kind, t'^et us be thankful 

For that which is,^nd with you leave dispute, 

That are above our question. — Let 's go off, 

And bear us like the time. {Flourish. Exeunt. 



EPILOGUE. 

I would now ask ye how ye like the play; 

But, as it is with school-boys, cannot say 

I am cruel-fearful. Pray, yet stay a while, 

And let me look upon ye. No man smile ? 

Then it goes hard, I see. — He that has 

Lov'd a young handsome wench, then, shew his face — 

'T is strange if none be here — and, if he will 

Against his conscience, let him hiss and kill 

Our market ! 'T is in vain, I see, to stay ye ; 

Have at the worst can come, then ! Now, what say ye? 10 

And yet mistake me not : I am not bold ; 

We 've no such cause. — If the tale we have told — 

For 't is no other — any way content ye — 

For to that honest purpose it was meant ye — 

We have our end ; and ye shall have ere long, 

I dare say, many a better, to prolong 

Your old loves to us. We, and all our might. 

Rest at your service; gentlemen, good night ! [Flourish. 



NOTES, 



ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES. 

Abbott (or Gr.), Abbott's Shakesj>earian Grammar (third edition). 
A. S., Anglo-Saxon. 

A. v., Authorized Version of the Bible (1611). 

B. and F., Beaumont and Fletcher. 
B. J., Ben Jonson. 

Camb. ed., " Cambridge edition" of Shakespeare, edited by Clark and Wright. 

Cf. {confer), compare. 

Clarke, " Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare," edited by Charles and Mary Cowden- 
Clarke (London, n. d.). 

Coll., Collier (second edition). 

Coll. MS., Manuscript CoiTections of Second Folio, edited by Collier. 

Colman, 1778 ed. of B. and F., with notes by Colman, Reed, et al. 

D., Dyce (second edition). 

H., Hudson (" Harvard" edition). 

Halliwell, J. O. Halliwell (folio ed. of Shakespeare). 

Id. {idern), the same. 

K., Knight (second edition). 

L., H. Littledale's ed. of The Two Noble Kinsviett (London, 1876). 

Nares, Glossary, edited by Halliwell and Wright (London, 1859). 

Pro!., Prologue. 

S., Shakespeare. 

Schmidt, A. Schmidt's Shakespeare- Lexico7t (Berlin, 1874). 

Sk., Rev. W. W. Skeat's ed. of The Two Noble Kinsmen (Cambridge, 1875). 

Sr., Singer. 

St., Staunton. 

Theo. , Theobald. 

Tonson, 171 1 ed. of B. and F., published by Jacob Tonson (London). 

v., Verplanck. 

W., R. Grant White. 

Walker, Wm. Sidney Walker's Critical Examination of the Text of Shakespeare 
(London, i860). 

Warb., Warburton. 

Wb., Webster's Dictionary (revised quarto edition of 1879). 

Weber, Henry Weber's ed. of B. and F. {1812). 

Wore, Worcester's Dictionary (quarto edition). 

The abbreviations of the names of Shakespeare's Plays will be readily understood ; as 
T. N. for Twelfth Night, Cor. for Coriola?ms, 3 Hen. VI. for The Third Part of King 
Henry the Sixth, etc. P. P. refers to The Passiotiate Pilgrim ; V. and A . to Venus 
and Adonis ; L. C. to Lover' s Complaint ; and Sonn. to the Sonnets. 

When the abbreviation of the name of a play is followed by a reference to page, 
Rolfe's edition of the play is meant. 
The numbers of the lines (except for the present play) are those of the " Globe " 6d. 



NOTES. 




THE PARTHENON AT ATHENS. 



PROLOGUE. 

This prologue is certainly not Shakespeare's. It is probably by 
Fletcher. " Several of his favourite images are employed in it, and the 
general style resembles that of his undoubted prologues " (L.). K. omits 
the whole of it, and Sk. the first twelve lines. 

24 25 Weak . . . wnier. The quarto joins this to what precedes, put- 
tin^ a period after water. The arrangement in the text is due to D. 

26. Tack. The reading of the folio;* the quarto has "taice. 

29. Travail. The old eds. have "travell" or "travel." Cf. A. W. 
P- 153- 



* That is, the 1679 folio of B. and F. See p. 10 above. 



154 



NOTES. 



ACT I. 



Scene I. — The critics generally agree that this scene is Shake- 
speare's ; but Dowden, Nicholson, L., Furnivall, and H. assign the Song 
to Fletcher, to whom it probably belongs. 

The old stage-direction makes the bride " led by Pirithous ;" corrected 
by Theo.* 

On her tresses likewise hanging, Nicholson (quoted by L.) says : " This 
appearance of the bride in dishevelled hair, apparently a classic custom, 
betokened virginity, and was in use up to Jacobian times at least." He 
cites the reference to the marriage of the Coyntess of Essex to Somerset 
in A. Wilson's Life of James L: " She, thinking all the world ignorant 
of her slie practices, hath the impudence to appear in the habit of a Vir- 
gin, with her hair pendent almost to her feet; which Ornament of her 
body (though a fair one) could not cover the deformities of her soul." 

The ivheaten garland " seems to have been worn as an emblem of fer- 
tility, and perhaps also of peace — the causer of plenty " (L.). 

The .S'^;/^is " evidently intended to be sung by the Boy, who also strews 
flowers, as indicated in the stage-direction and at line 15 " (Sk.). 

4. Maiden pinks. Fresh pinks. L. thinks the reference may be to 
"the Matted Pinck" of Bacon's Essay Of Gardens, wYi&ve it is specially 
commended for its odour. Miller {Gardener's Diet.) describes a kind 
oi Dianthiis as "the small creeping or Maiden Pink, commonly called 
the mated Pink by seedsmen." Sk. says that this is the Diattthus vir- 
i^inens, but the name is probably modern. We may add that S. refers to 
the pink only once (in R. and J. ii. 4. 61) and then figuratively. 

5. S7nell-less yet most qztaint. Furnivall says : " I cannot get over 
Chaucer's daisies being called 'smell-less yet most quaint:' the epithets 
seem to me not only poor but pauper, implying entire absence of fancy 
and imagination." ^//rt'/«/=" trim, neat " (Sk.). 

6 Thyme. Spelt " time " in the quarto -, as in M. N. D. ii. i. 249 and 
0th. i. 3. 326, in the early eds. 

7. Primrose, first-born child of Ver. Alluding, as Sk. says (in a note 
sent to L., correcting that given in his own ed.) "to the apparent ety- 
mology of the French name for the \)x\vi\xo'a&, primevere,^'' which was sup- 
posed to be =pri?fia veris. It is rather ■=^pri7n7ila veris, if taken from the 
Latin ; but Brachet supposes it to be the Italian primavera. The usual 
spelling in old writers is prii?ie-rose ; as in Bacon's Essay Of Gardens. 

9. With her bells dim. Sk. (followed by H.) reads "hairbells dim." 
This, as L. remarks, " is very ingenious and supported by strong pre- 
sumptive evidence ;" but he goes on to show that the old reading is 

* That is, in the 1750 ed. of B. and F., edited by Theobald, Seward, and Sympson. 
L. says of it : " Theobald, who died before the edition had advanced very far, has left 
a few good notes ; Sympson's are occasionally presentable, but as for Seward — Seward 
' never deviates into sense. ' ' ' Coleridge asks : ' ' Did the name of criticism ever descend 
so low as in the hands of those two fools and knaves, Seward and Sympson?" Again he 
apostrophizes the former thus: "Mr. Seward! Mr. Seward! you may be, and I trust 
you are, an angel ; but you were an ass." 



ACT I. SCENE I. 155 

probably right. Sk. says that the system requires the accent on the 
second syllable ; but L. replies that' " the irregularity of the number 
of syllables and the words used in these third lines rather indicate 
that there is but ojie emphatic word in the line." Besides, as he adds, 
there is " an important strtcciural obstacle " to the arrangement of Sk. 
" Looking through the song, we see one half (three lines exactly) of each 
stanza occupied by one idea, and the remaining half devoted to a group 
of objects ;" and " the change would destroy this designed symmetry." 
Sk. also objects that bells " makes no sense " as applied to X-ho. prmtrose ; 
but S. uses it of the cowslip in Temp. v. I. 89, and both old and modern 
poets often make (^t-//^ blossom. Dim is as appropriate an epithet for 
the pritnrose as pale in W. T. iv. 4. 122 and Cymb. iv. 2. 221 ; but it is 
not so suitable for the harebell {Campatiula rotuiidifolia) or the blue-bell 
{Agrapkis mitans), which Sk. thinks to be probably the flower meant here. 
"Violets dim" in W. T. iv, 4. 120 (see our ed. p. 192) is not a parallel 
case, as dim seems there to be = retiring, modest, "half-hidden from the 
eye." 

10. Oxlips. "The greater cowslip, Privitda elatior" (Schmidt). Cf. 
M. N. D. p. 149. 

Cradles. Mr. Furnivall wrote to Dr. R. C. A. Prior, author oi Popular 
Nanies of British Plants, for an explanation of this word and of the allu- 
sion to death-beds in the next line, and got the reply : " I am quite at a 
loss for the meaning of cradles and death-beds ;" but Mr. William Whale 
of the Egham Nurseries answered the same inquiry thus : " The root- 
leaves of the oxlip are cradle-shaped, but circular instead of long. The 
growth of the leaves would certainly give one an idea of the stem and 
oxlip flowers being lodged in a cradle [? saucer]. I have seen the mari- 
gold (the Calendula officinalis, or medicinal marigold, not the African or 
French sorts which are now so improved and cultivated in gardens) in 
my boyish days frequently placed on coffins ; and in a warm death-room 
they would certainly flower." L. quotes Per. iv. i. 16 : 

" and marigolds 
Shall as a carpet hang upon thy grave 
While summer days do last." 

Cf. W. T. p. 191. On death-beds blo7ving may mean planted on graves, 
as it is said they still are in Wales, and probably elsewhere. 

12. Larks'' -heels. " Not the same as larkspur, as one might suppose, 
but a kind of nasturtium, the Tropceohim mimis'''' (Sk.). The name was, 
however, sometimes used loosely for larkspur. Cotgrave, s. v. Aloiiette, 
has: "Pied d''alouefte, the herb Larks -spur. Larks -claw. Larks - heel, 
Larkes-toes, Monkshood." 

16. Angel. " Literally, a messenger (Gk. ayyEKog), but here prettily 
used to signify a bird. The same use of the word occurs in Massinger's 
Virgin Martyr, ii. 2, where the Roman eagle is spoken of as ' the Roman 
angel.'' The idea is as old as Homer, who uses the expression olinivhv, 
raxi'v dyyeXov {Iliad, xxiv. 292). Observe, too, that angel implies a bird 
of good omen, to the exclusion of such ill-omened birds as the crow, the 
cuckoo, and the raven " (Sk.). 



1^6 



NOTES. 



19. Slanderous. Because supposed to tell tales of unfaithful wives. 
Cf. L. L. L. V. 2. 908 : 

"The cuckoo, then, on every tree, 
Mocks married men," etc. 

See also M. N. D. iii. i. 134 and A. W. i. 3, 67 ; and cf. M. W. p. 143. 

20. The boding raven. Cf. T. mid C.w.2. 191 and Otk. iv. i. 22. 
Chough hoar. The quarto has " dough hee," and the folio " dough 

he;" corrected by Seward. Cf. M. N. D. iii. 2. 21 ; and see Temp. p. 
127. Charles Lamb wanted to read 

'* The crow, the slanderous cuckoo, 
The boding raven, nor the chough" 

(the pronunciation choo is said to be still heard in the North of England), 
and L. prefers this to " Seward's very feeble bit of tinkering." He objects 
to hoar that it is " a purely descriptive epithet, and utterly devoid of any 
symbolic meaning, while all the rest have some reference to the require- 
ments of the case." It may be added that the emendation makes the 
verse very clumsy ; but \i nor at the end of 19 is right, this is inevitable, 
whatever rhyming word may be supplied, 

21. Chattering pie. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. v. 6. 47 : "And chattering pies in 
dismal discords sung." 

22. Bride-house. Nares quotes N'omenclator, 1585 : " A bride-house, 
as when a hall or other large place is provided to keepe the bridall in, 
when the dvvelling house is not of sufficient roome to serve the turne ;" 
and the old Taming of a Shreiv: 

"Why come, man, we shall good cheere 
Anon at the bride house," 

24. Walker asks : " Is the Epithalamium broken off by the entrance 
of the Queens? It seems unfinished; and it is more natural, I think, 
that it should be interrupted." 

25. Gentility. Gentle birth; as in A. Y. L. i. I. 22 : "mines my gen- 
tility with my education." 

33. Raze you. Erase for you. Cf. Gr. 220. 

34. All you, etc. All for which you, etc. 

36. Stead. Assist. See M. of V. p. 133, note on May you stead me? 

40. Endure. The quarto has "endured," and the folio "endur'd;" 
corrected by Mason. 

In Chaucer Creon is " of Thebes kyng," as here. 

41. Talons. Spelt " Tallents " in the quarto. Cf. the pun in Z. L. L, 
iv. 2. 64, and see our ed. p. 146. 

For the grouping of birds of prey, cf. J. C. v. i. 85 : "ravens, crows, 
and kites." 

44. Urn. Cf. inurn''d in Ham. i. 4. 49. Spalding notes the Shake- 
spearian character of the verb, as of chapel in 50 below. See Gr. 290 
(cf. p. 5). 

45. Eye Of holy Phoebus. Cf. Hen. V. iv. I. 290 : "Sweats in the eye 
of Phoebus," and A. and C. iv. 8. 29 : " holy Phoebus' car." 

47. Duke. Cf M. N. D. i. i. 19 : " Theseus, our renowned duke ;" and 
see our ed. p. 125. 



ACT I. SCENE I. 1157 

48. Purger. Cf. J. C. ii. I. 180: "We shall be call'd purgers, not 
murtherers." Spalding remarks that "verbal names expressing the 
agent . . . are in an especial manner frequent with Shakespeare, who 
invents them to preserve his brevity, and always applies them with great 
force and quaintness." 

55. Transported. Rapt; as in Temp. i. 2. 76. "Theseus means that 
he would have bidden her rise sooner, only that he was so carried away 
by her story as to make him unobservant of her attitude" (Sk.). 

58. Vengeance and revenge. The tautology is apparently emphatic. 
Cf. Rich. II. iv. I. 67 : "shall render vengeance and revenge." 

59. Capaneus. " Four syllables, accented on the first and third. Chau- 
cer also has it as four syllables, but accents it on the second and fourth. 
Properly, it has but three syllables, being the Gk. Y^aTTuvi-vQ. Capaneus 
was one of the seven heroes who marched from Argos against Thebes. 
The story is that he was struck by lightning as he was scaling the walls, 
because he had dared to defy Zeus ; and, whilst his body was burning, 
his wife Evadne leaped into the flames and destroyed herself. The story 
in Chaucer and in this play is somewhat different, as Evadne answers to 
the First Queen" (Sk.). 

64. Spread her. Overspread her, cover her. Seward ("stupidly," as L. 
says) would omit her, but, as Sk, remarks, "this does not improve either 
the sense or the metre ; the introduction of an extra syllable at a pause 
in the verse is no blemish, but a beauty." Cf. Or. 454. H. omits her. 

66. Kins7nan. Sk. quotes the Life of Theseus in '^oxiWs, Plutarch : 
" They were neere kinsmen, being cosins remoued by the mothers side. 
For ^thra [Theseus' mother] was the daughter of Pitheus, and Alcmena, 
the mother of Hercules, was the daughter of Lysidices, the which was 
halfe sister to Pitheus, both [being] children of Pelops and of his wife 
Hippodamia." Cf. M. N. D. v. 1.47 : "In glory of my kinsman Her- 
cules." Sk. says that '■'■ Hercules is apparently a dissyllable here;" but 
it should certainly have its ordinary pronunciation, the light extra sylla- 
ble not marring the measure. 

68. Nemean. The early eds. have " Nenuan ;" corrected by Seward. 
For the pronunciation, cf Ham. i. 4. 83 and L. L. L. iv. i. 90. See Ham, 
p. 195. 

73. Whereto. In addition to which. Cf thereto in W. T. \. 2. 391, 0th. 
ii. I. 133, and Cymb. iv. 4. 33. 

74. Our 7inde7'taker. The man to undertake the work of avenging us. 
S. uses the word only twice {T. N. iii. 4. 349 and 0th. \v. 1. 224), and in 
both instances with a meaning similar to this. Sk. quotes Fletcher, Lovers 
Progress, i. i : " First, for the undertaker, I am he ;" Hallam, Const. Hist, 
of Eng.: "Neville, and others who, like him, professed to understand the 
temper of the commons, and to facilitate the King's dealings with them, 
were called undertakers ;^^ and Spectator, No. 432 : " I find you are a gen- 
eral undertaker," etc. 

75. Bellona. For the allusion to the Roman goddess of war, zi. Macb. 
\. 2. 54: "Bellona's bridegroom." See our ed. p. 155. 

80. Wast near to make, etc. " ' Didst nearly make the male sex cap- 
tive to thine own sex, had it not been that this lord of thine, Theseus — 



158 



NOTES. 



who was born to keep created things in the same relative position of 
honour in which nature first appointed them — caused thee to shrink back 
within the bound which thou wast overflowing.' Creation properly means 
all created things, but is here used with particular reference to human 
beings. Cf. Gen. iii. i6 " (Sk.). StyVd ?V= fixed the style or rank of it. 

87. Whonozv, [know. The quarto has " Whom" for Who ; corrected 
by D. The old reading may have been a " confusion of construction." 
Cf. K. John, p. 166, note on Whom. 

For pozver on, cf. T. G\ of V. iii. I. 238 : " power upon my life ;" Cymb. 
V. 5. 418 : " The power that I have on you is to spare you," etc. 

88. Ow'st. Ownest, possessest ; as in v. 4. 50 below. Cf. Rich. II. p. 
204. 

89. Servant. Sk. remarks : " Servant is used not quite in the modern 
sense, but in the old sense of an obedient and devoted lover ; see iii. 6. 
149 below. It is the proper antithesis of mistress. Thus, in Beaumont 
and Fletcher's Philaster, iii. 2, Philaster addresses Arethusa as ' my dear- 
est mistress^ whereupon Arethusa replies with ' my dearest servant.'' The 
best comment upon this is furnished by the words of Theseus in Chau- 
cer's Knightes Tale., 956 — 

' For in my Xyvs\& a sertiauut was I oon. 
And therfor, sine I know of tones peyne,'' etc." 

For — 'a.s regards ; as often in S. Cf. Gr. 149. Seward (followed by II.) 
changed yi'r to " to." 

90. Glass of ladies. "A Shakespeare fancy," as Spalding notes. Cf. 
IIa?n. iii. I. 161 : "The glass of fashion;" and see our ed. p. 219. Cf. 
also Hen. V. p. 152, note on The mirror, etc. 

93. Require hifn he advance it. Ask him to raise it. On advance, cf. 
Cor. p. 210 ; and for require, see on v. i. 39 below. 

98. Than a dove''s motion, etc. L. quotes R. of L. /[^"j : "Like to a 
new-kill'd bird she trembling lies." 

99. Blood-siz'd. Cf. Ham. ii. 2. 484 : "o'er-sized with coagulate gore " 
(that is, covered as with size or glue). 

102. / had as lief, etc. I would as soon follow out this good work 
with you as the marriage ceremony to which I am bound, though I never 
yet went so willingly as to that. For had as lief, see A. Y. L. p. 139. 

107. Uncandied. Thawed, dissolved. Cf. " candied with ice " in T. 
of A. iv. 3. 226, and discandy (=thaw) in A. and C. iii. 13. 165 and iv. 
12. 22. ' 

108. So sorrozv, etc. " So sorrow, lacking shape (that is, power of ex- 
pression), is oppressed with still greater occasion for it" (Sk.) ; or sor- 
row becomes the deeper for being unable to utter itself. 

111. There, through viy tears, etc. There you see it only imperfectly, 
as pebbles appear distorted in the running brook. Wrinkled, to our 
thinking, is peculiarly expressive, Seward changes there to "here" — 
in my heart (with appropriate gesture). 

112. Glassy. The early eds. have "glass" or "glasse;" corrected by 
Seward. 

113. May behold ''ei7i. D. and H. read "it" for ''em. In our opinion 
the change to the plural is to be explained by the intervening /^^/V^'j- ; 



ACT 1. SCENE I. 159 

but Nicholson thinks it is made "either because she is thinking of her 
eyes as ostents of her grief, or, what is much the same, because she is 
thinking of the grief in either eye, and therefore griefs.^'' Sk. compares 
the use oi tkeir = \ris, in iii. 5. 128 below. 

114. He that will, etc. "He who desires to discover all the world's 
wealth must dig deeply towards its centre; he who would win the least 
good- will from me must let his search descend to my heart, like one who, 
fishing for minnows, so loads his line with lead as to make it sink deeply. 
The simile is intentionally strained and far-fetched, to denote the queen's 
distress ; as explained in the next sentence" (Sk.). 

118. Extremity, etc. L. quotes B. and F., Honest Mail's Fortune, iii. I ; 

-'Cunning Calamity, 
That others' gross wits uses to refine, 
When I most need it, dulls the edge of mine." 

122. Ground-piece. Perhaps =study for a picture, sketch ^S^.). L. 
thinks ground may be =surface, and "^r^^/;;z<:/-//>^^ = pictured as distin- 
guished from sculptured work, superficial seeming ; or (2) gro2tnd=io\\\\- 
dation [cL gi'ound-work) znd grouj/d-piere = model, subject matter; or (3) 
^;'<7//«^/= principal, main, chief, and groztful-Jjieee = m3.sterpiecQ ; or (4) 
ground^foW, dull 'ground' of a picture, as contrasted with the glare 
and prominence of her sorrow." In any case, " seeming and l>eing are 
contrasted." 

132. Lonoer. The old eds. have "long ;" corrected by Seward. 

134. Knolls. Cf A. V. L. ii. 7. 114: "where bells have knoll'd to 
church." See our ed. p. 166. 

135. Your first thought, etc. Sk. remarks: "Possibly suggested by a 
passage in North's Plutarch, immediately preceding that quoted in the 
note to 66 above : ' For then he did manifestly open himselfe, and he felt 
the like passion in his heart which Themistocles long time afterwards 
endured when he said, that the victorie and triumph of Miltiades would 
not let him sleepe. For euen so, the wonderful admiration which The- 
seus had of Hercules courage made him in the night that he neuer 
dreamed but of his noble acts and doings, and in the daytime, pricked 
forward with emulation and enuie of his glory, he determined with him- 
selfe one day to do the like, and the rather because they were neere 
kinsmen,' etc. Again, in the same Life of Theseus, ed. 1612, p. 15, we 
read: ' Others say . . . that he was at the iourney of Cholchide [Colchis] 
with Tason, and that he did helpe Meleager to kil the wild bore of Caly- 
donia : from whence, as they say, this prouerbe came : Not without The- 
seus ; meaning that such a thing was not done without great helpe of an- 
other. Howbeit it is certaine that Theseus selfe did many famous acts 
without aide of any man, and that for his valiantnesse this prouerbe came 
in vse, which is spoken : This is another Theseus. Also he did helpe 
Adrastus, king of the Argives, to recouer the bodies of those that were 
slaine in the battell before the city of Thebes.' " 

136. Meditance. Premeditation ; not found elsewhere in S. 

138. As ospreys, etc. Cf. Cor. iv. 7. 34 : " As is the osprey to the fish," 
etc. See the note in our ed. p. 261. Here, as there, the spelling is as- 
tray in the old eds. 



i6o NOTES. 

142. Cords, knives, drams, precipitance. That is, hanging, stabbing, 
poison, leaping down a precipice. K. and Sk. read "cords', knives', 
drams' precipitance;" making /7-^^z}!'//«;z^^ = " headlong haste, desperate 
rashness." The early eds. have no comma after drajns. Sk. compares 
Cymb. V. 5. 213 and Otk. iii. 3. 388. 

1430 Weary of this world'' s light. Sk. quotes Virgil, ^n. vi. 434 : 

" Proxima deinde tenent moesti loca, qui sibi letum 
Insontes peperere manu, lucenique perosi 
Proiecere animas." 

146. Visitating. Surveying. Sk. cites Cotgrave, Fr. Did. : " Visiter, 
to visit, or go to see ; to view, survey, overlook, oversee." Visit is often 
similarly used in S. ; as in Temp. i. 2. 308, M.for M. iii. i. 46, iii. 2. 272, 
Z. L. L. V. 2. 861, etc. 

149. To give. By giving ; " one of the commonest constructions in 
S." Cf. iii. I. 25 below ; and see Gr. 356. 

152. Noiu U will take form, etc. That is, "Strike while the iron is 
hot " and can be shaped, not wait till it is cold, when you will sweat to 
no purpose in trying to make it take form. 

154. It's. See W. T. p. 155. In i. 2. 65 below, the quarto has " its." 
Secure. Careless, unguarded. See Ham. p. 196. 

155. N'ot dreams. Seward and H. change Not to " Nor." 

156. Rinsing. The early eds. have " wrinching," which, as L. notes, is 
" probably phonetic." In Hejt. VIII. i. i. 167, the ist folio has " wrench- 
ing." There is no other instance of the word in S. 

158. Full of bread. Cf. Ham. iii. 3. 80. Sk. quotes Ezek. xvi. 49. 

159. " Artesius must be supposed to be an Athenian captain, present 
on the stage, though no speech is assigned to him, and his entrance and 
exit are alike unnoticed in the old copies. Theseus addresses him again 
in 211 ; and the proper time for his exit is at 218 " (Sk.). 

D. and H. take^/" to be the verb, and point the passage thus : 

" Artesius, that best know'st 
How to draw out, fit to this enterprise 
The prim'st for this proceeding, and the number 
To carry such a business; forth and levy," etc. 

AVe prefer (with Sk. and L.) to follow the early eds. 

165. Take hands. " Let us join hands and depart together; intended 
as an expression of despair" (Sk.). 

166. Let us be widows to our woes. Hickson cites this as an example 
of Shakespeare's " certain boldness of metaphor, carried sometimes to 
that extreme that it requires a considerable effort of the understanding 
to follow it." It is certainly far from clear, but we think it means. Let 
us continue to weep over our woes, as we do over our husbands ; we 
have no hope here. Sk. says : " Perhaps this obscure expression inti- 
mates that they would not have even the opportunity of mourning at 
their husbands' tombs. Having no memorials of their husbands to point 
to, they had but their woes to shew that they were widows." L. explains 
it thus : " Let us be widows to our woes, as well as to our husbands ; for 
as Creon has left our dead lords unburied, so our woes have been left 
unburied by Theseus." 



ACT I. SCENE I. ^ 1 6 1 

172. War, The early eds. have " was ;" corrected by Theo. Itnforls 
= concerns. 

1 76. Lock. Detain by embraces. For sytiod as applied to an assem- 
bly of the gods, see Cor. p. 266, or A. V. L. p. 173. 

177. Corslet. See on «^'«, 44 above. 

178. Twinning. The early eds. have "twyning" or "twining;" cor- 
rected by Theo. Cf. B. and F., Night- Walker, iii. 6 : 

"Let me suffer death 
If in my apprehension two twinn'd cherries 
Be more akin than her lips to Maria's;" 

and Pkiiaster, ii. 2 : " they are two twinn'd cherries " (referring to lips). 
Fall. Let fall ; as often in S. Cf. y. C. p- 169, 

179. Tasteful. Not found elsewhere in S. Richardson quotes Cra- 
shdiVi, Tk£ Flaming H-eari : 

*' Say, all ye wise and well-pierc'd hearts, 
That live and die amidst her darts, 
What is 't your tastefjd spirits do prove, 
In that rare life of her, and 1-ove ?" 

180. Blubber'' d. "The reader ought to recollect that formerly this 
word did not convey the somewhat ludicrous idea which it does at pres- 
ent" (D.). The only other instance of it in the text of S. (it is found in 
a stage-direction in 2 Hen. IV. ii. 4. 421) is in R. and J. iii. 3. 87, where it 
is put into the mouth of the Nurse. For the form, see Gr. 374 (cf. 290). 

186. Tlwugh viuch mdike, etc. " Though I think it very improbable 
that you should be so transported as she describes, and equally sorry 
that I should urge such a petition as I now proceed to make " (Sk.). H. 
reads " much I like," which seems unmaidenly. 

190. Siir/eiL Sickness, from excess of grief, 

195. Or sentencing^ etc " Or forever condemning their power to si- 
lence " (Sk,)- H. explains it : " Or concl»ding them to be forever with- 
out force, or no better than speechless," 

209. Success, Accented on the first syllable. Cf. v, 3. 69 below. 

210. Pretended, Intended. See Macb. p. 202 (note on Pretence), or 
T. G. of V. p, 136. 

211. Follow your soldier, etc. The early eds, point the line thus: 
*' Follow your Soldier (as before) hence you ;" corrected by Mason. 

212. Aidis. The early eds. have "Anly;" corrected by Theo. H. 
adopts Heath's conjecture of "Ilisse" (=Ilyssus), assuming that the 
name of a river is required; but bank (as Sk. and L. note) is often ap- 
plied to the sea-shore. See i Hen. IV. iii, i. 45, 2 Hen. VI. iii- 2. 83, Rick. 
III. iv. 4. 525, Sonii. 56. II, etc. 

214. Moiety. Part ; not necessarily a hal£ See Hatn. p. 174. 

215, More bigger look\L " Which was expected to have been a greater 
one. We are to suppose that Theseus had planned some great expedi- 
tion, to be undertaken after his marriage-feast was over, and had col- 
lected part of an army for that purpose. He now intends to march 
against Thebes, the taking of which he looked upon as easy, without 
completing that army to its full number " (Sk.). For the double com- 
parative, see Gr. II ; and for the form of look'd, cf, blubber'' d\n 180 above. 

L 



i62 ' NOTES. 

2i6. Sdifup . . . cnri-ant . . . token. There is a play upon the words as 
applied to coin. 

222. Wiint. Lack, be incomplete. H. adopts Seward's conjecture of 
*' wait." Sk. remarks : " The suggestion is a poor one ; he must have 
forgotten the common use of ivajit in our old dramatists.'- Cf. T. 
ofS. iii. 2. 4, etc. On solemnity, cf. A. W. ii. 3. 187, T. of S. iii. 2. 103, 
etc. 

230. They themselves. That is, the gods, who are sometimes slaves to 
their passions. 

233. Hinnaii. The quarto has "humane." Cf. Macb. p. 218. Hu- 
vian title — iho. right to the name of man. 

Spalding says of this scene : " It has sometimes Shakespeare's identi- 
cal images and words ; it has his quaint force and sententious brevity, 
crowding thoughts and fancies into the narrowest space, and submitting 
to obscurity in preference to feeble dilation ; it has sentiments enunci- 
ated with reference to subordinate relations, which other writers would 
have expressed with less grasp of thought; it has even Shakespeare's 
alliteration, and one or two of his singularities in conceit; it has clear- 
ness in the images taken separately, and confusion from the prodigality 
with which one is poured out after another, in the heat and hurry of im- 
agination ; it has both fulness of illustration, and a variety which is drawn 
from the most distant sources ; and it has, thrown over all, that air of 
originality and that character of poetry, the principle of which is often 
hid when their presence and effect are most quickly and instinctively 
perceptible." 

Hickson remarks: "The first thing that seems to indicate the pres- 
ence of the mind of Shakespere is the clearness with which, in the first 
scene, we are put in possession of the exact state of affairs at the open- 
ing of the play, without any circumlocution or long-winded harangues, 
but naturally and dramatically. And, indeed, one of the most striking 
characteristics of Shakespere is, if we may so express it, the downright 
honesty of his genius, that disdains anything like trick or mystery. This 
is almost peculiar to Shakespere. Where, in his works, as much is re- 
vealed at the very opening as is necessary to the understanding of the 
plot, we find, in the works of other dramatists, as much kept back as 
possible ; and we are continually greeted with some surprise or starded 
with some unexpected turn in the conduct of the piece." 

Scene II. — i. Dearer in love than blood. Sk. contrasts this with 
Ham. i. 2. 65 : "A little more than kin, and less than kind." 

2. Prifne. Chief, first in our love. 

6. We shame. H. reads "were shame." 

8. /' the aid d' the airrent. With the stream. "What Arcite means 
to urge as a reason for their quitting Thebes is, that, if they struggled 
against the current of the fashion (which is denoted by «^/ swimming in 
the aid of it), their striving would answer no purpose; and that, if they 
followed the common stream, it would lead them to an eddy where they 
would either be drowned or reap no advantage from their labouring 
through it but life and weakness" (Mason). 



ACT I. SCENE II. 165 

13. Ruins. " Not material ruins of houses, but wrecks of men, that 
is, men who are but wrecks of their former selves. Palamon is follow- 
ing up the idea started by Arcite, that the men in Thebes were mostly- 
coming to ruin. Hence the word tvalkiug may just as well agree with 
riihis as refer to Palamon himself; and he goes on to say that he sees 
upon them little else but scars and bare garments (such being the com- 
mon meaning oi weeds in our old authors) ; and these scars are all that 
the martialists (or men fond of war) really gain, though hoping to win 
honour and money. Observe the phrase ' when such I meet ' in 21 ; and 
so in 27 " (Sk.). There can be no doubt, we think, that walking refers to 
ruins. For weeds, cf. M. N. D. p. 149. Z?ar£' = threadbare. L. notes 
that martialist is not used elsewhere by S., while B. and F. have the 
word twice. 

18. Had not. "Did not get for himself, for it went to the captain. 
Cf. 34 below " (Sk.). 

Fiurted. Scorned ; used by S. only in the compound flurt-gills {R. 
and y. ii. 4. 162), but rather common in B. and F. 

22. Jealousy. Referring to the origin of the Trojan war. 

24. For her repletion. L. makes this ^against her repletion, as a rem- 
edy for it (Gr. 154) ; but we do not see why it may not mean on account 
of it. Repletion is not used elsewhere by S. 

i't'^/«z« = " employ, take into service; as in Hen. VITT. i. 2. 192" (L.). 
H. adopts Heath's conjecture of" reclaim." Sk. suggests '* regain ;" but, 
as L. says, regain ane^v would be =gain anew anew. 

28. Cranks. Winding streets. 

40. Even jump. Just exactly. Cf. Ham.^. 172. 

41. As they are here, etc. Weber and Sk. follow the oM eds. in putting 
the comma after <z;r, joining here to what comes after. The sense is the 
same, and the rhythm better, with the pointing in the text. 

42. And Such things to be mere monsters. " And to be such things (as 
they are) were to be mere monsters" (Nicholson). Weber makes the 
words a mere expansion of what precedes: "we should be here (in 
Thebes) strangers, and such things as would be considered mere (that is, 
absolute) monsters, or things out of the common track of human cus- 
toms." On mere in this sense, cf. Temp.\). 1 11, note on We are merely 
cheated, etc. On the form of the passage, cf. 7 fol. above : " for not to 
swim," etc. 

46. Faith. Self-reliance. 

48. Conceiv'd. Understood. Cf. Lear, p. 235. 

^i. Follows. For the ellipsis of 7e^/z^, see Gr. 244. 

52. Make pursuit. There is a play upon this phrase, which means to 
prosecute, or bring a suit against, as well as to follow. 

54. For. Because. Gr. 151. 

61. Plantain. For the use of plaintain leaves for wounds and bruises, 
see R. and J. p. 147. 

63. Whose successes, etc. K. adopts Heath's conjecture of " success," 
and some change Makes to " Make." L. says that "it is only ignorance 
of Shakespearian usage that has led editors to admit any change in either 
the noun or the verb here." Cf. Gr. 333. 



164 



NOTES. 



65. I/s, See on i. i. 154 above. Who is understood htiort puts ; it is 
expressed two lines below. 

67. Attributes. Accented on the first syllable. The word is found 
elsewhere in S. only in A. W. iii. 6. 64, where it occurs in prose. L. 
accents voluble on the penult, but this is not absolutely necessary. The 
word is used here in the etymological sense of "inconstant, fickle " (Latin 
volubilis, from volvere^ to roll). Cf. the noun in Holland's Pliny: "The 
heaven bendeth and inclineth toward the centre, but the earth goeth 
from the centre, whiles the world, with continuall volubilitie and turning 
about it, driveth the huge and excessive globe thereof into the forme of a 
round ball." 

69. Men''s. The old eds. have "men ;" corrected by Seward. 

70. Glory ; one, etc. Some copies of the quarto (cf. p. 9 above) read 
"glory on That feares," others put a semicolon after "on." Seward, 
followed by most of the editors, reads " glory too ;" but, as Ingram sug- 
gested, the old "on " is =0He, as not unfrequently. In i. 3. 75 below, the 
quarto has " humd on." In Z. Z. Z. iv, 3. 142, the folio reads " On her. 
haires were Gold, Christall the others eyes," etc. 

72, Sib. Akin, related. See He7t. VIII. p. 205, note on Gossip. 

74. Clear -spirited. Sk. quotes Milton, Lycidas, 70: "Fame is the 
spur which the clear spirit doth raise." See also v. 4. 13 below. 

76. Our. Metrically a dissyllable. Gr. 480. 

79. lu blood unless in qiiaiity. " Not in kin, unless in kind'''' (L.). Cf. 

M.ofV.\\.z.\'^'. 

" But though I am a daughter to his blood, 
I am not to his manners." 

See also i above. 

85. Phoebus, etc. Sk. remarks : " The allusion is probably to the story 
of Phaethon in Ovid ; the day after Phaethon's death, Phoebus could 
hardly be persuaded to drive the chariot of the sun once more, and 
wreaked some of his anger upon the horses, which he lashed severely. 
Cf.i^^/. ii. 398: 

* CoUigit ameutes et adhuc terrore paventes 
Phoebus equos: stimuloque dolens et verbere saevitl 
Saevit enim, natumque obiectat et imputat illis.' " 

86. Whipstock. The English editors think it necessary to explain this 
as " the handle of a whip ;" but the word is in common use in this coun- 
try. 

87. To. In comparison with. Gr. 187. 

88. Small tvinds shake him. L. prints this as an exclamation (which it 
certainly is not), and cites as a parallel Cymb. ii. 3. 136 : " The south-fog 
rot him !" 

95. Yet what man, tic. " The meaning is, what man can exert a third 
part of his powers when his mind is clogged with a consciousness that he 
fights in a bad cause ?" (Mason). 

103. Who. Referring to fate. " The writer was no doubt thinking of 
the personified Fates, especially of Atropos, the Fate who cuts the thread 
of life " (Sk.). 



ACT T. SCENE III. 165 

106. Intelligence. Sk. says that this is = messenger, as in K. John, iv. 
2. 116: " O, where hath our intelligence been drunk?" but we see no 
necessity for explaining it so here, and in K. John the figure is similar to 
that in Macb. i. 7. 35 : " Was the hope drunk," etc. Intelligence is no 
more used concretely than care in the next line : 

"O, where hath our intelligence been drunk? 
Where hath it slept? Where is my mother's care. 
That such an army could be drawn in France, 
And she not hear of it ?' ' 

107. Who^ were he. H. omits who. 

109. Comes. The quarto has " come," the folio " came ;" corrected by 
Colman. 

112. Our hands advanced, etc. If we lift our hands when we have no 
heart for the fight, etc. Cf. Warwick's description of his soldiers in 
3 Hen. VI. ii. i. 130 fol. : 

"Their weapons like to lightning came and went; 
Our soldiers' — like the night-owl's lazy flight, 
Or like an idle thrasher with a flail — 
Fell gently down, as if they struck their friends. 
I cheer' d them up with justice of our cause, 
With promise of high pay and great rewards. 
But all in vain; they had no heart to fight ^ 
And we in them no hope to win the day." 

For afl'z/^;/^^^/— uplifted, see on i. i. 93 above. 

116. Becking. Beckoning ; as in K. John, iii. 3. 13, and A. and C. iv. 
12. 26. 

Spalding says of this scene : " Its broken versification points out 
Shakespeare ; the quaintness of some conceits is his ; and several of the 
phrases and images have much of his pointedness, brevity, or obscurity. 
The scene, though not lofty in tone, does not want interest, and contains 
some extremely original illustrations." 

Hickson thinks "that either Shakespeare and Fletcher wrote the 
scene in conjunction, or that it was originally written by Fletcher, and 
afterwards revised and partly re-written by Shakespeare." 

L., after quoting these opinions, asks : " Does it not therefore appear 
more likely that the view put forward by Spalding, and upheld by Dyce, 
Skeat, and Swinburne — that Shakespeare was the first sketcher of the 
piece, Fletcher the 'padder;' that the play is 'gilt o'er-dusted,' rather 
than 'dust that is a little gilt' — gives after all the true explanation of 
the mystery ?" 

Scene III. — i. No further. "Pirithous is going to follow Theseus to 
the war, and, taking leave of Hippolyta and Emilia at the gates of Athens, 
bids them accompany him no further " (Sk.). 

5. Dare. The early eds. have "dure," which Seward changed to 
" cure." Dare was the conjecture of Sympson and Heath. The latter, 
as quoted by D., remarks : " The words excess and overjioiv of power re- 
late not to the success of Theseus just before mentioned, but to the rein- 
forcement Pirithous was on the point of leading to join his army. And 
the sense is — Though I dare not question the success of my lord even 



i66 NOTES. 

with the troops he has, yet I wish him rather excess and overflow of 
power, more force than is necessary, that, if possible, he may defy Fortune 
to disappoint him." Nicholson (quoted by L.) thinks that dare is used 
in "the fowling and hawking sense of terrifying a bird till it lay still and 
subdued, or, not daring flight, fled crouching on the ground." Cf. He)i. V. 
p. 176, note on Dare the field. 

7. His ocean, etc. Weber quotes A. and C. iii. 12. 8-10. 

ID. Pieces. Works, creations. In---\\\lo ; as often. 

12. Speed. Success, fortune. Cf. 7! ^6". p. 143. 

14. Terrene. Cf. A. and C. iii. 13. 153 : " our terrene moon." 

20. Broach'' d. Spitted. Cf. Hen. V. v. prol. 32 : " Bringing rebellion 
broached on his sword," etc. Sk. quotes Hen. V. iii. 3. 38. 

21. Sod. Seethed, boiled. Cf R. of L. 1592 : " Sod in tears," etc. 
H. " improves " the arrangement of the passage thus : 

" or women that 
Have sod their infants in the brine they wept 
At kiUing 'em, and often eat them," etc. 

24. Peace be to yon, etc. " Peace be to you as long as I pursue this war ; 
when that is ended, we shall not need to pray for it " (Mason). 

27. Depart. For the noun, see T. G. of V. p. 152. 

Sports. Amusements, diversions ; referring to the festivities which 
Pirithous had charge of (Sk.). 

31. Playing one. The cpiarto has "ore " for one, a misprint which the 
folio changes to "o'er." The correction is Mason's. "The business 
which Pirithous was executing with his hand was the conducting of the 
festivities; that which he directed in his head was the preparation for 
war" (Sk.). 

36. /^j- dangerous as poor. As dangerous as it was poor. Some put a 
comma after dangerous. 

37. They have skiff d, etc. "They have passed in a slight bark over 
torrents whose roaring tyranny and power, even when at the minimum 
of fury, were dreadful " (Weber). 

43. Cunning. Skill. Cf T. of S. p. 127, or Ham. p. 257. 

53. Count. That is, of years. 

58. The quarto has here the following "warning" in the margin: 
"2. Hearses ready with Palamon : and Arcite : the 3. Queenes. The- 
seus; and his Lordes ready." This is one of the indications that the 
quarto was set up from an acting copy of the play. Cf. pp. 10, 39 
above. 

61. For we did. Because we did. See on i. 2. 54 above. 

63. Operance. Operation. We find operant in T. of A. iv. 3. 25 and 
Ham. iii. 2. 184. 

66. N'o more arraignment. That is, without further trial. 

67. Then hct beginning. The early eds. have " breasts, oh (then but be- 
ginning," etc. L. thinks that the parenthesis may be an interpolation 
of Fletcher's. He adds: "The statement cannot be objected to physi- 
ologically, but it certainly seems a superfluous piece of information from 
a dramatic point of view." 

11. Toy. Bit of finery. Cf ^. Z". iv. 4. 326 : "Any toys for your head?" 



ACT I. SCENE IIL 167 

72. Her affections. " What she affected, or liked " (K.). 

73. I'hoiigh happily her careless wear. The quarto reads " Though hap- 
pely, her careles, were," and the folio "Though happily, her careless, 
were ;" corrected by Colman, who paraphrases the passage thus : " Her 
fancy (which was sure to be pretty, even in her most careless dress) I 
copied in my most studied adornments." For /^aZ/z'/y^haply, see 2 Hen. 
VL p. 164, or Gr. 42. 

75. One. The early eds. have " on," which was an old spelling oi one. 
Cf. T. G. of V. p. 129. See also on i. 2. 70 above. 

78. Ihis rehearsal, etc. The quarto (followed essentially by the folio) 
reads : 

" This rehearsall 
(Which fury-innocent wots well) comes in 
Like old importments bastard, has this end, 
That the true love tweene Mayde, and mayde, may be 
More then in sex individuall." 

The correction oi every innocent for "fury-innocent" is Lamb's; and 
dividual for " individual " is due to Seward and Sympson. The meaning 
of the expression, Zz/^<? t*/^ iniportmenfs bastard, is not clear; but the 
editors have perhaps tried to find too much in it. Weber explains the 
whole passage thus: "This rehearsal of our affections (which every in- 
nocent well knows comes in like the mere bastard, the faint shadow of the 
true import, the real extent of our natural affections) has this end," etc. 
L. gives it thus: "The end of this long relation, as every innocent is 
aware, comes in like the ' illegitimate conclusion ' of a long story told very 
consequentially." This is better than Weber's exegesis, because simpler 
and more in keeping with the playful tone of the parenthesis. Mason 
took importnient to be =the French emportetnent, "which signifies pas- 
sion or transport," and made the parenthesis " (Which fury innocent, wot 
I well, comes in Like old emportment's bastard)," which he paraphrased 
as follows : " the innocent enthusiasm of which, I well know, comes in 
like the spurious offspring, the faint resemblance of the passion I formerly 
felt for Flavina," etc. Innocent, of course, is —idiot ; as in A. W. iv. 3. 
213, Per. iv. 3. 17, etc. 

Sk. remarks here : " This beautiful passage is unfortunate in one re- 
spect ; for it suggests a comparison with the well-known lines in the 
M. N. D. iii. 2. 203, where Helena uses very similar language : 
' Both warbling of one song, both in one key,' etc. 

There is a remarkable parallel passage in Fletcher's play of the Lover'^s 
Progress, ii. I, descriptive of the love of two male friends : 

' Both brought up from our infancy together, 
One company, one friendship, and one exercise 
Ever affecting, one bed holding us, 
One grief and one joy parted still between us. 
More than companions, twins in all our actions. 
We grew up till we were men, held one heart still. 
Time call'd us on to arms ; we were one soldier, 
Alike we sought our dangers and our honours, 
Gloried alike one in another's nobleness.' 

" The word dividual here merely means different, and seems to have been 



1 68 NOTES, 

used to round off the description. In Milton it means separable, and 
occurs in the Areopagitica, ed. Hales, p. 39, 1. 25, as well as in the P. L. 
vii. 382, xii. 85. Richardson has also the following quotation containing 
the word (from Brooke's Universal Beauty) : 

'While through the pores nutritive portions tend, 
Their equal ahment dividual share, 
And similar to kindred parts adhere.'" 

Spalding says of this scene that much of it " has Shakespeare's 
stamp deeply cut upon it," and that it is " probably all his." Hickson 
also praises it highly, as showing "the judgment of Shakespeare." He 
adds : " The friendship of Theseus and Pirithous becomes a natural in- 
troduction to the object of friendship in general, and female friendship in 
particular ; and, in this light, the character of Emilia is shown so simple, 
so pure, yet so fervent, that we justify and account for her irresolution and 
inability to decide between the rivals, both of whom she admires without 
actually loving either. It is a scene, in fact, necessary to that perfection 
of character and consistency of purpose which but one writer of the age 
attained. Struck out, the play would still be intelligible, as no part of the 
action would thereby be lost ; but Emilia would straightway sink into one 
of those conventional characters that strange circumstances throw into the 
power of the dramatist, and, judged by any other than his own peculiar 
standard, would certainly have little claim upon our respect." 

Scene IV. — On a battle struck in the stage direction, cf. Hen. V. ii. 4. 
54: " When Cressy battle fatally was struck ;" and see our ed. p. 160. 

II. Even. Make even. Cf. A. W. p. 140, note on To even yotir con- 
tent. 

13. What are those ? Who are those ? Gr. 254. Here Theseus per- 
ceives the bodies of Palamon and Arcite. They are brought in "on 
hearses;" but no stage-direction appears in the old copies, as the " warn- 
ing" in the margin at i. 3. 58 above was sufficient. D. (followed by H.) 
wrongly adds to the heading of the scene, ^^ Dead bodies lying on the 
ground ; among the7n Palamon and Arcite.'''' 

15. Appointment. Accoutrement. Cf. Ham. p. 253. See also iii. i. 40 
below. 

18. Smear''d. Some copies of the quarto (see p. 9 above) have 
"smeard," others "succard." L. compares Cor. i. 6. 69. 

19. Make lanes. Cut their way through. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. i. 4. 9 : " Three 
times did Richard make a lane to me." 

21. What was ^t that prisoner, etc. The early eds. have "What pris- 
oner was 't that ;" corrected by D. 

22. We learn. The early eds. have "We leave ;" corrected by Heath. 
K. and Sk. follow Seward in reading " With leave." D; at first gave 
" Wi' leave," but afterwards adopted Heath's conjecture. L. is inclined 
to think "leave " = " 'lieve " (believe). 

31. Convent. Call together ; as in i. 5. 10 below. Cf. T. IV. p. 169. 

40. Since I have known, etc. This is the great crtix of the play, and 
has been the subject of much emendation and discussion. The quarto 
(followed essentially by the folio) reads : 



ACT I. SCENE IV. 1 69 

" Since I have knowne frights, fury, friends, beheastes, 
Loves, provocations, zeale, a mistris Taske, 
Desire of liberty, a feavour, madnes, 
Hath set a marke which nature could not reach too 
Without some imposition, sicknes in will 
Or wrastling strength in reason, for our Love," etc 

Seward transposed the line, Sickness hi will, etc., after madness, and 
g?iv& friends^ behests and Love'' s provocations, and suggested " 'T hath " for 
Hath. Heath would read " fights, fury " (for which D. givtsjioht^sfury) 
and " Have " for Hath. D. also reads "zeal in a mistress' task," which 
Sk. adopts. H. has "zeal in misery's task," and "They've" for Hath. 
He adopts Seward's transposition and readings, and says : " The idea 
running through the passage seems to be that the several things men- 
tioned, ix oxxi fighf s fury to strength in reason, all crave or aim at some- 
thing higher than man's natural powers can accomplish, unless specially 
stimulated thereto by moral and religious incitements. So Theseus pro- 
ceeds to urge upon his subordinates oar love and great Apollo's mercy as 
motives for outdoing themselves in order to effect the matter in ques- 
tion." But surely this is a strange preamble to such an appeal. If the 
thought had passed through the mind of Theseus at the time, he would 
not have paused to utter it. There is more of the clergyman than of the 
critic in this interpretation. 

Sk. says : " I do not see that the transposition suggested by Seward 
is necessary, or that it helps us in any way. With a slighter mending, 
we can do better. It is clear that friends should be a genitive case, 
coupled as it is with Love'' s provocations ; and the '&\iggt'&\\oxi fighf s fury 
is a great improvement upon i\iQ fights, fury of the old editions. The 
introduction of /;/ after zeal, as proposed by Mr. Dyce, is also a happy 
thought. But there we may as well stop. I understand the word that 
before Hath, nothing being commoner in our dramatists than the omis- 
sion of the relative ; and I retain Hath, without altering it, as some have 
done, to Have. I interpret it thus : ' For I have known the fury of fight, 
the requisitions of friends, the provocations of love, the zeal employed in 
executing a mistress's task, or the desire of liberty — to be (or, to amount 
to) a fever or a madness, which has proposed an aim (for endeavours) 
which the man's natural strength could not attain to, without at least 
some forcing, or some fainting of the will, or some severe struggle in the 
mind.' This is at least as good as any previous explanations, and further 
discussion of so difficult a passage would be useless. Imposition means 
demand or requirement, in an excessive degree." 

The reading and pointing in the text are those of L, except that he 
retains the old "frights, fury." His explanation, which, if not perfectly 
satisfactory, has the merit of simplicity, and also of connecting the pas- 
sage naturally and appropriately with the context, is as follows : " The- 
seus directs that the prisoners shall be removed from all sights that 
might be suggestive of their captivity and so hinder their recovery, since 
he knows that, among other causes, desire of liberty hath sometimes pro- 
duced a degree of mental apathy or delirium {set a mark oi sickness in 
will or wrestling strength itt reason) which could only be combated by 
practising some deception {jiature could not reach to, etc.). Compare 



lyo NOTES. 

what the Doctor says of the Daughter's wrestling strength in reason (in 
her case produced by love's provocations), iv. 3. 73 below : ' It is a false- 
hood she is in, which is with falsehoods to be combated.'''''' The singular 
Juith is used because the subjects govern it separately, not collectively. 

46. Our best. That is, our best physicians. 

Spalding says of this scene that its phraseology is " like Shakespeare's, 
being brief and energetic, and in one or two instances passing into quib- 
bles." Hickson considers that it " bears the marks of Shakespeare's 
hand too strongly to be mistaken." 

Scene V. — 3. Dole. Dolour, grief. Cf. A. V. L. p. 143. 

4. Heavy cheers. Sad faces. Yox cheer, 'S.G.t M. of V.^.\i^2.. 

6. Wild. For this poetical epithet H. substitutes Walker's tame con- 
jecture of " wide." 

ID. Convent. See on i. 4. 31 above. 

II. HousehohVs grave. The quarto has "housholds grave," the folio 
" houshold graver." 

15, 16. This world 'j a city, etc. This couplet is found on old grave- 
stones in England and Scotland, with slight variations and with addi- 
tional lines ; as in the following (given by L.) from Abernethy : 

" The world 's a city 
Full of streets, 
And death 's a market 
That every one meets ; 
But if life were a thing 
That money could buy, 
The poor could not live 
And the rich would not die" 

Southey, in his Commonplace Books, gives the following as an epitaph 
at Worpleton : 

*' Life is a city full of crooked streets, 
And Death the Marketplace where all men meets. 
If life were a merchandize which men could buy, 
The rich would purchase it, and only the poor would die." 

Spalding assigns this scene to Shakespeare ; Hickson is in doubt 
about it, but inclines to the same opinion. To L. the evidence seems to 
point the other way. The epithet quick-eyed does not occur once in S. ; 
and the whole tone of the song is Pletcherian. 



ACT II. 

Scene I. — i. Depart ivith. Part with. See JiT. John, p. 150. 

5. Better lined. " Better off," better furnished with property. Sk. 
compares Macb. i. 3. 112. See our ed. p. 164. L. quotes Cleveland, 
Works, p. 93 : " But though he came alone, yet well lin'd it seems, 
with 133/. 8./." 

6. Delivered. " Given out," reported. 
12. Of her. From her. Gr. 165. 



ACT II. SCENE IT. 



171 



20. Strezvings. Rushes to strew the floor. See Rich. 11.^. 167, note 
on The presence strewed. 

25. Absolute. Complete, perfect. Cf. Ham. v. 2. in : "an absolute 
gentleman ;" and see also He7i. V. p. 170. 

26. Stammers ^em. " Speaks stammeringly concerning them, does 
them but small justice" (Sk.). 

27. Grise. Step, grade. See 0th. p. 165. The quarto has " greise," 
the folio "grief." Nares quotes from William Thomas's Hist, of Italy, 
1561, H 2 : " certain skaffolds of borde, with grices or steppes one above 
another." Sk. cites Way's note at p. 209 of the Promptorium Parvu- 
loritm, which has " Grece, or tredyl, or steyre. Graihis.^'' We find in 
Wiclif, Exod. XX. 26 : " thou schalt not stye [ascend] by grees to myn 
auter," and the singular form gree is also found, meaning a step. Some 
have supposed that grise is a mere corruption of the plural oi gree. 

28. In the battle. Modifying doers, not reported. 
41. Presently. Immediately. See Cy?nb.Y>. 184. 

46. And so did they. Explaining why the Wooer had not seen them. 

53. lord, the difference of men ! Sk. quotes Lear, iv. 2. 26 : " O, the 
difference of man and man !" 

Spalding gives this scene (as he does all the underplot) to Fletcher ; 
but Hickson is firm in the belief that it is Shakespeare's. The fact that 
it is in prose is against its being Fletcher's ; and so is the fact that it 
does not fit exactly with the next scene, which is certainly his. In this 
scene the kinsmen are referred to as if in conversation, but in the next 
they begin with mutual salutations. There the Daughter speaks of them 
as having no sense of their captivity and as discoursing nothing of their 
own restraint and disasters, while here they discourse of nothing else. 

Scene II. — Weber, D., and Sk. make this scene a continuation of the 
preceding ; but the quarto distinguishes the two. Cf p. 35 above. 
17. Have. H. adopts Dyce's conjecture of "had." 

21. Wore. The old eds. have " were ;" corrected by Seward. D. reads 
" ware." 

22. Ravish' d. Snatched from. The old eds. have " Bravishd ;" cor- 
rected by Seward. 

28. Too-timely. Too early, too forward. Yox timely = t2ix\y,c(. C. of E. 
i. I. 139: "my timely death." 

31. Loaden. For the form, cf. i Hen. IV. p. 140. 

51. Stuck. The early eds. have " Strucke" or " Struck." The emenda- 
tion is due to Heath, and is favoured by the comparison of the swine to 
a quiver. For the allusion to the Parthian custom of shooting as they 
fled, cf Cymb. i. 6. 20 : " Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight." 
Uses — exercises. 

54, Lazily. The old eds. have " lastly," which is explained as =" worst 
of all ;" but the measure as well as the sense of the context favours 
Seward's emendation of " lazily." 

58. Mere. Absolute. See Temp.'p. iii, note on We are merely cheated, 
etc. 

63. Main goodness. " Special piece of good luck " (Sk.). 



172 



NOTES. 



64. 'Iwin'd. The old eds. have "twyn'd" or "twinM;" but perhaps 
we should read " twinn'd," with Seward, K., and L., as that word was 
often spelled with one n. See on i. i. 178 above. Weber, D., Sk., and 
H. have twiji'd. 

74. Conversation. Intercourse with others. 

91. Grave. Bury, destroy. The old eds. have "Crave," which L. de- 
fends. Grave is due to D., and is adopted by Sk. and H. Theo. suggests 
" Craze," Sympsou «' Carve," Mason " Cleave," and Heath " Raze." 

100. A more conte^it. A greater content than there. For j?tore, see 
Gr. 17. 

112. Record. The noun is often accented by Elizabethan writers on 
the last syllable. Cf. Ham. p. 197. 

118. This garden, etc. The old eds. give this line to Arcite ; corrected 
by Seward. 

122. Forward. That is, go on with what you were saying. " Palamon 
had said above, ' you shall hear me ;' and now Arcite is eagerly waiting 
to hear the remainder of his speech. Palamon, engrossed in watching 
Emilia, pays little attention, and merely says 'yes,' without adding more. 
Hence Arcite's repeated remonstrance below, ' Will you go forward, 
cousin .'" And again he says, ' Cousin ! how do you, sir ? why, Pala- 
mon ' — supposing, for the moment, that Palamon is seized with a fit of 
illness. Cf. iii. 5. 98 below " (Sk.). 

138. Gently. A trisyllable here. Gr. 477. Cf. iv. i. in below. 

142. She locks her heatdies in her bud again. Cf Keats, St. Agnes'' Eve: 
" As though a rose should shut, and be a bud again." Sk. also notes 
this poetic parallel. 

146. Can cofne near. H. changes near to "to." 

156-159. I will not, etc. L. compares L. L. L. iv. 3. 64 : 

"A woman I forswore; but I will prove, 
Thou being a goddess, I forswore not thee : 
My vow was earthly, thou a heavenly love ; 
Thy grace Iseing gain'd cures all disgrace in me." 

163. Mankind. Accented on the first syllable ; as it is by S., except 
in T. of A. (Schmidt). 

171, 172. If that will lose ye, etc. H. gives, without note or comment : 

" If that will lose ye, farewell, Palamon ! I say 
Again, I love her; and, in loving her, maintain," etc. 

The addition of "her" in 172 was suggested by Walker, who would 

arrange thus : 

" I say again 
I love her; and, in loving her, maintain," etc 

191. If he be hit one. "That is, if the enemy be but a single person. 
The ' enemy,' in this instance, is Emilia. Arcite's reply is — suppose the 
enemy would prefer to fight with me; that is, suppose Emilia were to 
prefer me. Palamon rejoins that, in that case, Arcite would be free to 
love ; othertoise, he looks upon him as a villain " (Sk.). 

215. Enter Gaoler. In the old theatre the platform of the stage would 
be the garden, while the raised balcony at the back would be the interior 



ACT IL SCENE III. 



173 



of the prison, where Palamon and Arcite are, and where the Gaoler now 
enters. 

231. Apricock. Apricot; the old spelling. Qi. Rich. II.'^.i^']. 

261. Pelting. Paltry. See M. N. D. p. 142. 

269. Morris. That is, morris-dance. Cf. iii. 5 below, where one is in- 
troduced. 

Spalding remarks that " this scene, if it be Fletcher's, is among the 
very finest he ever wrote." Hickson says that " with all its beautiful 
poetry, it does not exhibit dramatic power." 

Scene III. — 10. Into thee. H. has " unto thee ;" but whether it is a 
misprint or an emendation we cannot say. 

21. Another shape. That is, a disguise. On 7nake nie, cf. 0th. v. I. 4: 
" It makes us, or it mars us," etc. 

26. Have with ye. I '11 be with you. See A. Y. L. p. 146. 

31. Hold. Hold to our engagement. 

35. Ye know. The old eds. have "yet know ;" corrected by Seward. 

37. Keep totuh. Keep his appointment ; a phrase of doubtful origin. 
Nicholson says that it probably came from the custom of shaking hands 
on a bargain or agreement. Cf. the old word handfast. 

38. Horn-book. The child's primer, which at first was a single leaf set 
in a frame of wood, and covered with horn to keep it from being soiled 
or torn. See Chambers, ^^'c/^ ^Z?a;j/j-, vol. i. p. 47. Cf. Z. Z. Z. v. i. 49: 
*' he teaches boys the horn-book." 

43. For our town. That is, for its credit or honour. 

44. Weavers. Probably =singers here. For the reputation of weavers 
as singers, see i Hen. IV. p. 165, or T. P/. p. 137. 

46. By any means. By all means ; as in iii. 5. 134 below. For says 
the old eds. have "sees ;" corrected by Seward. 

48. Farlonsly. Amazingly. See M. A^. P. p. 155, or Gr. 461. 

49. Makes no cry. Makes no noise, amounts to nothing. 

50. Tackle. " Equipments, things prepared for the occasion " (Sk.). 
65. Trick d' the hip. Trick in wrestling. Sk. says : " The reference is 

not to the hip of the vanquished wrestler, as some think, but^to that of 
the victor. If a wrestler can succeed in hitching his hip in a certain way 
under his adversary's body, he may often succeed in throwing with almost 
irresistible violence. This is the ' trick of the hip ' referred to here and 
by Shakespeare." Cf. M. of V. i. 3. 42, iv. i. 334, and 0th. ii. i. 314. For 
the use of vengeance, cf. Cor. ii. 2.6: " he's vengeance proud ;" and see 
our ed. p. 227. 

68. He roast eggs! "A contemptuous expression, intimating the speak- 
er's doubt as to Arcite's capacity even for cooking an egg. The phrase 
' like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side ' is in A. Y. L. iii. 2. 38. It looks as 
if eggs were sometimes roasted, like apples, before the fire, and required 
turning at intervals. Ray gives the phrase ' 1 have eggs on the spit ' as 
a common proverb, adding that it means ' I am very busy. Eggs, if they 
be well roasted, require much turning.' Two more proverbs are ' Set a 
fool to roast eggs, and a wise man to eat them ;' and ' There goes some 
reason to the roasting of eggs'" (Sk.). 



174 NOTES. 

73. E'er flew. The old eds. have " never flew," which Sk. thinks may- 
be what the author wrote. Cf. Gr. 406. 

76. Happiness. Good luck. 

As Spalding says, "neither this scene nor the following have anything 
in them worthy of particular notice." 

Scene IV. — 2. Affect. Love. See Much Ado, p. 124. 

18. Coih Ado, stir. See Much Ado, p. 146, or M. N. D. p. 168. 

20. Fairer spoken. See Gr. 374 (cf. 294). 

Scene V. — 4. Allotv. Approve, praise. L. quotes Webster, Westward 
Ho, iii. 4 : " they allow my wit for it extremely." 

7. Gave me life. H. adopts Seward's conjecture of " my " for me. 

9. Proves yon. That is, to be a gentleman. Sire is here a dissyllable ;' 
XxV^t fires in V. 1.3 below. Gr. 480. 

12. Deep cry. "Deep-mouthed" {T.ofS.'iwA. i. 18) pack. See Cor. 
p. 248. 

16. Proper. Comely. ^e.e. M. of V.Y).iT,2,Vi0ie, on A proper mati'spictzire. 

24. Baser garments. It will be borne in mind that Arcite is disguised 
as a countryman. 

26. Pnrchase. Win, gain. Cf. y^. KZ. p. 177. 

51. To do observance, etc. Cf. M. N'. D. i. i. 167 : " To do observance 
to a morn of May." 

65. Wise. Discreet. 

Scene VI. — Devils roar. "Probably we have here a relic of the old 
mysteries. Cf. Rich. III. iv. 4. 75, Hen. V. iv. 4. 75 [see our ed. p. 179], 
etc." (L.). . _ 

33. Patch. The old eds. have "path." The emendation is Dr. Ingle- 
by's, and is adopted by L. Cf. Ham. iv. 4. 18. 

35. Whoo-bub. Hubbub. See W. T. p. 204. 



ACT JII. 

Scene I. — 2. Laund. Lawn, glade. The old eds. have "land." 
Lanndvf2iS suggested by D. Cf. 3 He/i. VI. iii. I. 2 : " For through this 
laund anon the deer will come ;" and see our ed. p. 154. Sk. cites Chau- 
cer, Kn. T. 833 : " And to the launde he rydeth him ful ryghte." Sev- 
^r^/=separate. 

6. Buttons. Buds. Cf. Ham. i. 3. 40. 

7. Knacks. Knick-knacks. Cf. W. T. p. 199. 

10. Place. The old eds. have " pace ;" corrected by Seward. 

12. Eftsoons. Soon after ; used again in Per. v. i. 256. 

13. Chop. " Exchange, make an exchange. Arcite means, Oh ! that I 
might, whilst thou art meditating, come between, soon after some cold or 
sober thought, and make an exchange, by changing those cold thoughts 
to thoughts of love !" (Sk.), 



ACT III. SCENE I. 



175 



36. Void'' St. The old eds. have *' voydes ;" corrected by Sympson. 

37. Gentle token. The mark or badge of gentle birth. 

40. Appointment. Accoutrement, weapons. See on i. 4. 15 above. 

• 42. Nor worth. L. conjectures "not worth," which may be right. 

• 43. House-clogs. That is, his fetters. 

44. Cozener. Cf. the similar play on cousin in I Hen. IV. i. 3. 254 ; and 
for other instances see our ed. p. 155. 

45. As thou hast show'd me feat. That is, in keeping with your behav- 
iour. 

47. Your blazon. Your description. " The original sense of blason in 
Old French was simply a shield; then it came to mean a coat-of-arms, 
which is still the sense it has in French ; then, in English only, it passed 
on to the sense of description of arms, and even to description in a gen- 
eral sense, as in Ham. i. 5. 21, Micch Ado, ii. i. 307 " (Sk.). 

52. Skip them. Ignore their existence. 
' 54. Griefs. Grievances ; as often. Cf. i Hen. IV. p. 192. 

58. Advertised. Accented on the second syllable ; as it is regularly in 
S. Cf. Rick. Ill p. 235. 

68. CompelVd. Accented on the first syllable because followed by a 
noun so accented. See Schmidt, p. 1413 fol. Cf. M.for M. ii. 4. 57 : "I 
talk not of your soul ; our compell'd sins," etc. 

On the passage, cf. Macb. v. 7. i : 

"They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, 
But, bear-like, I must fight the course." 

72. Qiiit me of these cold gyves. Free me from these iron fetters. Cf. 
Cymb. p. 215, note on 14. 

74. Come before me then, etc. Sk. cites Macb. iv. 3. 234 : 

*' Within my sword's length set him ; if he scape 
Heaven forgive him too!" 

83. With counsel of the night. When the approach of night tells me 
that I may safely do it. Sk., who makes (rd'w;/j(?/=" assistance," consid- 
ers it " rather a bold phrase ;" but the transition from advice to assist- 
ance is an easy one. 

86. The smell 6' the prison. This gives us a hint of the "unsanitary" 
condition of prisons in the poet's time. Sk. refers to iii. 3. 48, 51 below. 

88. In plight. In condition for the combat. Cf. T. and Cm. 2. 168: 
" To keep her constancy in plight," etc. 

89. Dares. The reading of the quarto, and, to our thinking, preferable 
to the "dare" of the folio and the modern editors (except L.). 

90. Business. Changed by D. and H. to "baseness." Sk. has " nobly " 
for noble. 

The meaning is, "Dares any one who shews himself so noble be capa- 
ble of aught base.'' None, save Arcite, could be so; and therefore in 
proportion to the height of his generosity is the depth of his base- 
ness" (L.). 

97. Musit. The early eds. have " Musicke " or " Musick ;" corrected 
by K. Nares defines miisit-AS, "the opening in a hedge through which a 
hare, or other beast of sport, is accustomed to pass." Cf. V. and A. 683 : 



176 



NOTES. 



' The many musits through the which he goes 
Are like a labyrinth, to amaze his foes ;' ' 



where a hunted hare is referred to. Here the word is == hiding-place, 
loi. Befit brow. That is, a frowning or angry brow. Cf. i Hen. VI. 

V. 3. 34 : " See how the ugly wench doth bend her brows !" and 3 Hen. 

VI. V. 2. 19 : "And who durst smile when Warwick bent his brow ?" 
104. My stomach, etc. That is, if my stomach were not, etc. Sk. 

thinks that stomach is " probably ^inclination, used much as we now use 
palate ; the oil did not suit his palate and he could scarcely persuade 
himself to like it." The word may, however, be ^resentment (cf. Leaj'^ 
p. 254), as some explain it. 

112. / V^. The old eds. have "If;" corrected by Seward. 

114. Bleeding. For the figure, cf. Rich. II. i. i. 157, 2 Hen. IV. iv. i. 
5* etc. 

Scene II. — i. Brake. The old eds, have " Beake " or " Beak ;" cor- 
rected by Weber (the conjecture of Theo.). Sympson suggested " brook," 
and Seward reads "beck" ( = brook). Cf. ii. 6. 6 above. Sk. remarks : 
"Just above (iii. 1.30) we have — 'Enter Palamon out of a bush.'' And 
again below (iii. 6. 1 13) we have — ' into your btish again !' We may 
compare also Arcite's expression — 'your hawthorn-house ' (iii. I. 82) with 
Shakespeare's expression — ' This green plot shall be our stage, this haw- 
thoxn-brake our tiring-house ' {M. N. D. iii. I. 3), and again, ' enter into 
that brake'' in the same scene, 'j'].^'' 

5. But for one thing. H. reads "but one thing," as '■''for serves no 
purpose but to mar both sense and rhythm." The change does not im- 
prove the measure, and mars the sense by shifting the accent from one to 
thing. 

7. Reck. The quarto has " wreake," as the word is sometimes spelled 
in the early eds. of S. So reckless is sometimes spelled " wreakless." The 
v^xhjaw is not found elsewhere in S. 

19. Fed. The quarto has " feed," 

20. Be bold to ring the bell. " You may, without hesitation, begin to 
toll the bell for him ; that is, he is certainly dead " (Sk.). H. thinks the 
reference is probably to " the bell of the prison, which will be rung as an 
alarm-signal when Palamon is found to have escaped." 

21. All 'j chared. The deed is done. For the noun chare (the Yankee 
" chore"), see A. and C. p. 210. Sk. says : " The present passage is par- 
ticularly well illustrated by the old proverb, given in Hazlitt's collection, 
*That char is r/za!rV(that business is done), as the good wife said when 
she had hanged her husband.' In the Marriage of Wit and Science (Haz- 
litt's Old Plays, ii. 375), we have — 

'This char is char'd well now, Ignorance, my son, 
Thou seest.all this, how featly it is done.' 

We also find, in B. and F., the spelling chewre ; as in Love's Cnre, iii. 2 : 
* Here 's two cheivres chewr\l.^ " 

25. Mofd. Moping, stupid. Cf. Ham. p. 237. 

26, 27. Food took I none, etc. We follow the old eds. except in the 



ACT III. SCENE III. 177 

pointing. Cf. iv. 3. 4 below. Sympson conjectured " 'cept some water." 
Seward filled up a supposed gap thus : 

" Food took I none these two days, only sipt 
Some water, two nights I Ve not clos'd my eyes," etc. 

D. (followed by Sk. and H.) reads : 

"Food took I none these two days; once, indeed, 
I sipp'd some water; I've not clos'd mine eyes," etc. 

H. has, however, " have " for " I 've." L. says : " It is possible that 
some words have dropped out ; guessing can avail little in such a case." 

28. Brine. The old eds. have " bine ;" corrected by Tonson. Cf. i. 
3. 22 above. 

29. Lest I should droxvji, etc. " The enumeration of deaths should be 
noticed, and their connection with insanity " (L.). Cf. i. i. 142 and iv. 3. 
30 below ; also Temp. iii. 3. 58. 

31. State of nature. " Natural reasoning power" (Sk.). Cf. Lear, i. 4. 
290 and Macb. i. 3. 140. 

Together. Apparently = altogether ; otherwise it seems a strange word 
here. We wonder that somebody has not suggested "fall together" 
(^collapse). 

33. Next. Nearest. Cf. W.T.]). 181. 

35. Crickets . . . screech-ozvl. Sk. quotes Macb. ii. 2. 16: "I heard the 
owl scream and the crickets cry." 

36. All offices are done, etc. " All the duties of the day and night are 
done, and a new day is beginning; I alone have failed to give Palamon 
the file I brought for him, which might have saved him" (Sk.). 

Spalding, who assigns this scene (with all the underplot) to Fletcher, 
says that there is " some pathos in several parts of the soliloquy, but lit- 
tle vigour in the expression, or novelty in the thoughts." Hickson re- 
marks : " It is to this scene that we referred by anticipation as giving an 
instance of Shakespeare's judgment. It can hardly be said to explain 
any necessary circumstance ; . . . but it supplies the due gradation be- 
tween a mind diseased and madness ; and in connection with another 
scene at which we shall shortly arrive, it displays a depth of insight into 
the psychological character of this state only exceeded by Shakespeare 
himself, in Lear. Let our readers observe in particular the unselfish 
anxiety for Palamon's safety, and her subsequent terror at her own dis- 
ordered senses. The introduction of the popular notion that wild beasts 
'have a sense to know a man unarm'd' is quite a Shakespearian illus- 
tration ; and we do not know an instance of finer drawing than this of 
her imagination painting, as absolute reality, the subject of her first fear. 
From this conviction (of Palamon's death) we come naturally to the con- 
cluding lines, beyond which the next step is madness." 

Scene III. — 6. Beastly. Like a beast. Cf. Cymb. iii. 3. 40 : " We are 
beastly, subtle as the fox for prey," etc. For the adverbial use, cf. A. 
and C. p. 178. 

34. Virginals. " A keyed instrument, somewhat like a small piano- 
forte, probably so called because used by young girls " (Nares). It was 

M 



178 



NOTES. 




VIRGINAL. 



sometimes called a fair of virginals ; as in Dekker's GuPs Hornbooke: 
"leap up and down like the nimble jacks of a i>air of virginals." See 
also Harper''s Mag. vol. Iviii. p. 857. The noun is not used by S. (this 
scene is not his), but virginalling occurs in W. T. i. 2. 125. 

41. Thereby hangs a tale. Cf M. W. i. 4. 159, T. of S. iv. I. 60, A. Y. L. 
ii. 7. 28, etc. 

45. Break. That is, break our agreement. 

51. Fear me not. Fear not for me. Cf. M.for M. iv. i. 70, etc. 

53. Keep touch. See on ii. 3. 37 above. 

" This is one of those scenes by the introduction of which Fletcher 
succeeded in spoiling a good play " ( L. ). Spalding says : " In most 
respects the scene is not very characteristic of either writer, but leans 
towards Fletcher ; and one argument for him might be drawn from an 
interchange of sarcasms between the two kinsmen, in which they retort 
on 'each other former amorous adventures : such a dialogue is quite like 
Fletcher's men of gaiety ; and needless degradation of his principal 
characters is a fault of which Shakespeare is not guilty." 

Hickson says : " The 3d scene, without any doubt, is by Fletcher. 
Arcite brings 'food and files' to Pal anion ; and, after some patter of 
early reminiscences between them utterly out of character, they sepa- 
rate." 



Scene IV. — 2. Aglets. " Properly, tags to laces, or ( as here ) the 
bright tops or heads of such tags" (Sk.); or "spangles" (L.). Coles 



ACT III. SCENE IV. 



179 



{Latin Did.) gives both " An Aglet (tag of a point), (Evamentiim lignlce,^'' 
and also " An Aglet (a little plate of metal), Bractea, Bracteola''' C(. 
Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 26 : 

"yclad, for heat of scorching aire, 

All in a silken camus lilly-white, 

Purfled upon with many a folded plight, 

Which all above besprinckled was throughout 

With golden aygulets, that glistred bright, 

Like twinckling starres." 

See also 71 ^6". p. 138, note on Aglet-baby. 

9. Run. The early eds. have " Vpon " or " Upon." Seward reads 
" Up with," and Weber (followed by D. and H.) " Spoom " (Theo. had 
suggested " Spoon "), which they explain as =" let her spoom." Rtm is 
the emendation of Sk., who says : " The old text has 'Upon her,' where 
the first two letters are clearly due to the repetition of the Up of the next 
line ; and the most likely word is one which shall be a short monosylla- 
ble, ending with n. Nearly all the modern editions read Spoom her^ 
from a conjecture of Weber's, founded on the fact that spoom occurs in 
Beaumont and Fletcher's Double Marriage, ii. i ; but the word spoom, in 
that passage, is an intransitive verb, meaning to sail steadily, and is a 
mere variation, apparently, of spume (foam), as if the sense were to throw 
up foam. Nares remarks: 'an attempt has been made to introduce 
spoom into the Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 4, but with small critical judg- 
ment' " 

10. Course. A name applied to the large lower sails of a ship. See 
Temp. p. Ill, note on Set her two courses. 

14. Carack. A large ship. See 0th. p. 160. Sk. says : " Cotgrave 
has * Carraque, the huge ship termed a Carricke.' Cf. Span, carraca, Ital. 
caracca, a ship of heavy burden." 

15. Pigmies. "A fabulous people, said to be of the height oi2ipygme 
(TTvynrj), or 13^ inches, mentioned by Homer {Iliad, iii. 5) as dwelling 
on the shores of Ocean, and at times subject to attacks by cranes. 
Dwarfs have often been credited with supernatural powers, especially in 
Northern mythology" (Sk.). Cf Mtich Ado, ii. i. 278. 

19. Sk. suggests that this Sotig may have been part of an old ballad. 
He compares The N^ut-broivn Maid : 

" Lo yet, before, ye must do more, 
Yf ye wyll go with me : 
As cut your here up by your ere, 
Your kyrtel by the kne." 

22. He 's. A vulgar contraction of he shall, still in use in the North of 
England. Cf. Gr. 461. See also Lear, p. 248, note on 220. Sk. (as 
quoted by L.) suggests that it be printed lie s\ 

For cut as applied to a horse, see i Hen. IV. p. 156, or T. N'. p. 139 
(note on Call me cut). Cf also v. 2. 44 below. ■• 

25. O for a prick now, etc. Allusions to the old idea that the night- 
ingale presses her breast against a thorn while singing are very common 
in the poets. Cf. Z*. P. 379 : 

" Everything did banish moan, 
Save the nightingale alone ; 



l8o NOTES. 

She, poor bird, as all forlorn, 

Lean'd her breast up-till a thorn, 

And there sung the doleful!" st ditty," etc. 

Hickson says of this scene : "there is some affectation of nautical lan- 
guage (why, Heaven only knows), and the rest is mere incoherent non- 
sense." Spalding has nothing of importance to say about it. 

Scene V. — The Baviaft. A character sometimes introduced into the 
morris -dance, dressed up as a baboon. He performed some pantomimic 
tumbling, with occasional barking like a dog. Cf. 33-37 below. 

2. Tediosity and disensanity are the pedantic coinage of the School- 
master. 

L. compares The Spanish Curate, iii. 2 : 

" I have taught these twenty years, 
Preach'd spoonmeat to ye, that a child might swallow. 
Yet ye are blockheads still." 

8. Prize. A coarse woollen cloth (cf. 0th. p. 173), 2iSjane was a cheap 
cotton one. For the latter the old eds. have "jave;" corrected by D. 
Seward has "sleave" (cf. Macb. p. 191), and K. "jape." 

II. Mediiis fidius. "An old Latin oath, apparently short for me dius 
Fidiiis adtjivet, may the divine Fidius help me ! \{ fidius stands ior filius, 
then it means, may the divine son of Jupiter help me ! The reference, in 
that case, is most likely to the god Hercules " (Sk.). 

18. Meleager. The hero who slew the monstrous boar in the woods of 
Calydon. Cf. 2 Hen. VI. p. 153, note on 231. 

21. Trace. A term in dancing. L. quotes several instances of the 
noun ; as Spenser, Shep. Kal. June : " trimly trodden traces ;" Handfid 
of Pleasant Delites : "Yet daunceth on the trace," etc. 

29. Deliverly. Nimbly. Under the adjective, Nares quotes Holinshed : 
"nimble, leane, and deliver men;" and, again: "all of them- being tall, 
quicke, and deliver persons," etc. 

38. Quousque tandem ? How long ? evidently from Cicero's ist Ora- 
tion against Catiline : " Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia 
nostra ?" 

41. Wash''d a tile. Laboured in vain. " It is a Latin proverb, laterem 
lavare, and occurs in Terence, Phormio, i. 4. 9. There is a similar proverb 
in Greek, ttKivOovq ttXvvhv, to wash bricks " (Sk.). 

42. Patuus. Foolish. 

43. Hilding. A term of contempt. See R. and J. p. 172. 

45. Sempster. Sempstress ; which word has a double feminine affix, 
-ster being originally feminine, as it still is in spinster. Cf. the old play 
of The Roaring Girl (quoted by Nares) : 

"6". A sempster speak with me, sayst thou?. 
N. Yes, sir, she 's there viva, voce.'''' 

48. Wine and bread. That is, the sacrament. Cf. R. and J. iii. 5. 177 : 
" God's bread ! it makes me mad." 

Break. That is, break her promise. H. has " brake," which is probably 
a misprint. 

49. An eel and tvoman, etc. Sk. says: "In Hazlitt's Collection of 



ACT III. SCENE V. i8i 

Proverbs we find * There is as much hold of his words as of a wet eel by 
the tail.' Who the 'learned poet' is, I cannot say. Plautus [Fseiidolus, 
ii. 4. 56) has ' anguilla est, elabitur.' " 

53. A fire-ill take her ! " Pox take her !" (Nares). Cf. T. of A, iv. 3. 
"142. Seward reads "feril" (=ferule), and Sk. "wildfire." 

58. Frampal. Pettish, perverse. We find the ioxva frampold in M. W.. 
ii. 2. 94. See our ed. p. 146. 

60. Alow. Low down ; " possibly referring to the appearance of a ship 
on the horizon" (Sk.). Quite as likely, as L. suggests, it is a mere ex- 
clamation. 

67. / cojne. The early eds. omit /, which was supplied by Jonson. 
Weber reads " we come." 

68. Howlet. Owlet. See Macb. p. 228. 

'] /^. r the nick. That is, in the nick of time. 

80. Tell ten. Count ten. *' It was a trial of idiocy to make the person 
count his fingers " (Weber). For tell, cf. Temp. p. 123. See also v. 4. 56 
below. 

For buz as an interjection of impatience when one is about to tell what 
is already known, see Hani. p. 208, or Macb. p. 243. 

87. Qui passa. Here passes (Italian) ; unexplained in this connection. 
It may be the contracted name of some old tune. The bells are those of 
the morris-dancers. For the bones as instruments of music, see M. N. D. 
p. 173, note on The tongs and the bones. 

88. To a peace. " To be quiet " (Sk.) ; or, perhaps, to an alliance with 
us, to joining our dance (L.). Mason would read "a place," and Weber 
suggests "a pace" ( = a dance). 

89. Et opus exegi, etc. From Ovid, Met. xv. 871 : 

" lamque opus exegi, quod nee lovis ira nee ignes 
Nee poterit ferrum nee edax abolere vetustas. " 

101. A cold beginning. A play on hail. Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 339. Walker 
cites Dekker, Old Fortunatus : 

" ^ ndelocia. Brother, all hail ! 
Shadow. There 's a rattling salutation." 

L. adds, from The Faithful Friends, iii. 2 : 

^'^ Pergantus. All hail! 
Learclnis. He begins to storm already." 

and Cleveland, A zealons Discourse between the Persoii of the Parish and 
Tabitha : 

" Hail, Sister, to your snowy Breast — 
The Word permitteth us to jeast," etc. 

104. Distinguish villager. Mark as villagers or peasants. 

106. Rable. The pedagogue's rhyming variation of rabble, as choris of 
chorus. So in 113 he accents machine on the first syllable. 

112. Ferula. Sk. says : " It was made of wood and shaped like a bat- 
tledore, but with the bat much diminished, so as to be adapted for ad- 
ministering a severe pat on the palm of the victim's hand. In a picture 
called * The Schoolmaster,' by Gerard Douw, in the Fitzwilliam Museum, 



i82 NOTES. 

Cambridge, it will be seen that the master holds di ferula in his left hand, 
ready for use." 

114. For the alliteration, cf. M. N. D, v. i. 147 ; and see our ed. p. 184. 

118. Mickle. Much, great. Cf. R. and J. p. 169. 

123. This tenonr. To this tenour, to this efifect. 

124. Tenner. A pen-case, a case for holding pens (Nares) ; used here, 
of course, as a symbol for what he has />enned. 

125. Sk. remarks : " We have here a list of the characters in the Mor- 
ris-dance — namely, the Lord of May, the Lady of May (also called Queen 
of May, or Maid Marian), the Chambermaid, the Servingman, the Host, 
the Hostess, etc. ; to which should be added the Bavian or Tumbler, and 
the Clown or Jester, who was seldom absent from such festivities. By 
putting together the account in this part of the scene and the preceding 
part, we may make out the list of the twelve principal characters, six of 
each sex, with the persons who took the parts : 

" Ma/e. I. Lord of May ; 2. Servingman ; 3. Host ; 4. Clown ; 5. Ba- 
vian ; 6. Taborer. 

*■*■ Female. 7. Lady of May ; 8. Chambermaid; 9. Hostess; 10. il. 12. 
Dancers. 

"The parts may be thus distributed among the actors: 

*■'■ Male. I. 2. 3. 4. First, Second, Third, and Fourth Countrymen; 5. A 
fifth Countryman ; 6. A man named Timothy. 

'■^Female. 7. Friz ; 8. Gaoler's Daughter, taking the place of Cicely (for 
it is clearly the Second Countryman's partner who failed to appear) ; 9. 
Maudlin; 10. Luce; 11. Barbary ; 12. Nell. 

"In Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Testle, iv. 5, we 
have 'Enter Ralph, dressed as a May-lord ;' he describes himself as hav- 
ing a ' gilded staff, and crossed scarf.' " 

127. Silent hanging. Tapestry, behind which to hide. Silent may be 
= " that does not rustle " (Sk.). Cf. K. John, p. 163, note on Within the 
arras. 

128. Welcomes. Changed by most of the editors to " welcome," as In- 
forms below to "Inform." L. remarks : "With Mr. Skeat, I have left 
this passage as it stands in the old eds., objections to tht grammar seem- 
ing hypercritical, and to a student of Dr. Ahhoit''s Shakes. Gr. almost ab- 
surd." Their is also generally changed to " his ;" but the plural is im- 
plied in traveller. 

I'^i. Beast-eating. Mason conjectures " beef-eating." H. is probably 
right in making it =eating like a beast. The Fool and the Bavian are of 
course the same character. See on 125 above. 

132. With long tail. H. prints " with long long tail" (a misprint?). 

137. Intrate,filii, etc. The old eds. give this to ^^Tir.,''^ but Colman is 
clearly right in transferring it to Gerrold. 

139. Ye with. The old eds. have " thee with ;" corrected by Seward. 
In 142 the quarto has " three" for thee. 

156. Lets. Hindrances. Cf. T. of L. 330 : " these lets attend the time," 
etc. 

157. Doucets. "The testes of a deer;" a word not used by S., but 
often by Fletcher and B. J. Cf. Nares. 



ACT III. SCENE VI. 183 

Spalding refers to " the learned and high-fantaslical schoolmaster Ger- 
rold" as "a personage who has the pedantry of Shakespeare's Holo- 
fernes, without one solitary spark of his humour." Hickson says that 
the scene is " not only imitation, but the imitation of a young and inex- 
perienced writer." 

Scene VI. — 10. Out-dtire. Outlast, endure; printed as two words in 
the quarto. 

22. Beneficial. Beneficent; as mC.o/E. i. i. 152, Hen. VIII. i. i. 56, 
etc. 

24. Quit. Requite ; as often in S. See Rich. II. p. 208, note on 43. Cf. 
V. 4. 35 below. 

30. Like meeting of two tides. Spalding notes Fletcher's "want of dis- 
tinctness in grasping images, and inability to see fully either their pict- 
uresque or their poetical relations;" in illustration of which he quotes 
this passage and 83 fol. below : " When I saw you charge first," etc. 

59. Grand-guard. A piece of defensive armour, of which the best de- 
scription that we have seen is in Meyrick's Ajicient ArfJiozcr (quoted by 
D.) : " It has over the breast, for the purpose of justing, what was called 
the grand-garde, which is screwed on by three nuts, and protects the left 
side, the edge of the breast, and the left shoulder." 

82. Virtue. Valour (the Latin vi7-tus). Cf. Cor. p, 195. 

87. Strait. Tight; as in Hen. V. iii. 7. 57: "your strait strossers," 
etc. 

106. For none but such, etc. Seward remarks : " Our scene lies rather 
in the land oi knight-errantry than of Athens ; our authors follow Chau- 
cer, and dress their heroes after the manners of his age, when trials by 
the sword were thought just, and the conquered always supposed guilty 
and held infamous." 

112. Safety. The early eds. have "safely;" corrected by Seward. 

131. Fears me. Frightens me. See M. of V. p. 137, or K. John, p. 147. 

133. Have at thy life. " The usual exclamation of warning" (L.). 

147. Thine own. The early eds. have " this owne " or " this own ;" 
corrected by D. For the accent oi edict, cf. 170 below. See also M. N. D. 
p. 129. 

161. Soon. Easy, ready. 

162. And no more mov'd. " And I am no more moved than thou 
wouldst be in giving the order" (Sk.). ^//^r,?= whereas. See Gr. 134. 

177. Thy cousin'' s soul. Referring to Hercules. See on i. i. 66 above. 

192. Kill. The old reading, changed by some to " kills." For many 
similar examples of the " confusion of proximity," see Gr. 412. 

217. Right. Downright, true. Cf. A. V. L. p. 171, or Gr. 19. 

228. Bow not. Do not try to bend or bring down. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iii. 
I. 73 : " necessity so bow'd the state," etc. 

238. Fail. The old eds. have " fall," which L. retains. He quotes Dr. 
Ingleby, who says : " Cf. 274 below : ' Let it not fall again, sir.' These 
are remarkable instances of the use of this intransitive verb as a synonym 
oifail. . . . Fall, of course, is the opposite of sticceed. Now our word for 
this \sfail. Cf. Sir John Oldcastle : 'Alas ! poor rebels, there your aid 



i84 



NOTES, 



must fall.' There is also one example in The London Prodigal, and two 
in Isaiah — xxxi. 3 and lix. 14, 15." 

242. Name's opinion. The reputation of my name. The early eds. 
have "name; opinion." The correction was suggested by Theo., and 
is adopted by K., D., Sk., and H. L. reads "name, opinion !" and says : 
" Opi7iion is emphatic, and is used here (as again by Fletcher) in the 
sense of noio?-iety^ disrepute. Cf. Ihierry and Theodoret, ii. 2 : 

" my fair reputation, 
If I thrust into crowds, and seek occasions, 
Suffers opinion.' " 

D. points the passage thus : 

"Think how you maim your honour 
(For now I am set a-be^ing, sir, I am deaf 
To all but your compassion) ; how their lives 
Might breed the ruin of my name's opinion!" 

Sk. says : " This can only mean — Think how you maim your honour ; 
(for now that 1 begin to beg, I am deaf to all but your pity) ; think how 
their lives, etc. But this makes no sense, and can only be made into 
sense by altering lives into deaths ; and even then it is not clear why 
their deaths should damage her good name, at any rate in her own es- 
timation. I take the sentence to mean something very different — namely, 
Think how you maim your honour ! [After which there is a pause ; 
and then a new thought arises.] For now that I have begun to beg, 
sir, I am deaf to all but your compassion ; (I am deaf to the thought) 
how their lives may bring about the loss of my reputation. That this is 
clearly right, may be seen from a perusal of 220-226." It seems to us 
that this is the general idea of the passage, but that it is more simply 
and directly brought out by the pointing in the text (given, without com- 
ment, by H.), which makes Hozu their lives, etc., a contemptuous or indig- 
nant exclamation, referring to what Theseus has said in 220-226. 

244. Proin. The early eds. have "proyne" or " proyn ;" changed by 
later editors to "prune" (of which it is an old form) until D. restored 
it -AS, proin. He has been followed by Sk., L., and H. L. cites examples 
of it from B. J., Milton {Comus, 378), Gascoigne, and Bacon {Essay 50). 

248. That ever lov'd. D. and H. adopt Walker's conjecture of "lov'd 
them," which is in keeping with "the Fletcherian rhythm," but unnec- 
essary. 

251. Woe worth me. Woe be to me. Sk. remarks: "The A. S. verb 
weordian, to become, cognate with the German werden, once in very com- 
mon use, now survives only in such phrases as ' woe worth thee,' or 
' woe worth the day.' " 

258. Cut a-pieces. Cf. Hen. VII I. v. 4. 80 : " torn a-pieces." Gr. 24, 
140. 

272. Make death a devil. " Though you should make death as formi- 
dable as a devil" (L.). Sk. considers the expression "obscure," and 
suggests that it means " I will turn death into a horrible monster ;" but 
L. is clearly right. 

276. To your husband. For your husband. See Temp. p. 124, note on 
A paragon to their gueefi. 



ACT IV. SCENE I. 



185 



284. From that month. By a sentence pronounced by her. 

295. Fyratnid. Apparently ^pillar in the same sentence. Chaucer 
mentions two stakes, one at each side of the lists (Sk.). 

Whether. Which of the two. Cf. iv. 2. 48 below; also Matt. xxi. 31, 
xxiii. 19. 

299. And all his friends. Sk. remarks here: " Some readers have ex- 
pressed surprise at the apparently strange doom of Theseus, in decree- 
ing death not only to the principal, but to 'all his friends,' if worsted in 
the combat. Chaucer does not, it is true, go so far as this; but it was 
quite in accordance with the spirit of the age even in Fletcher's time. 
Seward's note on the subject is much to the purpose : 'As to the prob- 
ability of their procuring each three seconds upon such odd terms, it 
may shock us to suppose any such gallant idiots ; but even so low as 
our authors' age it was reckoned cowardice to refuse any man,. even a 
stranger, to be a second in almost any duel whatever, of which there is 
a most inimitable burlesque in [Beaumont and Fletcher's play of] The 
Little French Lazvyer. Mankind were mad after knight-errantry; and 
the reader must catch a little of the spirit himself, or he '11 lose a great 
part of the beauties of this play ; he must kindle with the flames of 
military glory, think life a small stake to hazard in such a combat, and 
death desirable to the conquered as a refuge from shame.' In Beau- 
mont and Fletcher's play of The Lover s Frogress, ii. 3, the seconds fight 
as well as the principals. Perhaps the most striking instance is afforded 
by the ferocious duel fought in Kensington Gardens, on the 15th of No- 
vember, 1712; in which not only the principals. Lord Mohun and the 
Duke of Hamilton, were both killed, but the seconds fought with fierce 
hatred, though interrupted before either of them was slain. See Cham- 
bers's Book of Days, ii. 583." 

304. Miscarry. Perish. Cf T. N. p. 152. See also v. 3. loi below. 

Spalding says that this scene " is a spirited and excellent one; but its 
tone is Fletcher's, not Shakespeare's." Hickson considers it " of a much 
higher character than either of the preceding " scenes. 



ACT IV. 

Scene I. — 4. Business. Here a trisyllable. 

II. Compassion. A quadrisyllable. Gr. 479. 

14. That I hope. So that I hope. Gr. 283. 

16. Scape. "It is quite unnecessary to prefix an apostrophe, as Mr. 
Knight does [so H. and others] ; it is a common old spelling " (Sk.). Cf. 
Macb. p. 214, note on Scaped. In 20 below the quarto has " escapt." 

35. Where did she sleep ? The early eds. have " When " for Where, 
which was suggested by D. 

37. Mind her. Think of her, call her to mind. Cf. Hen. V. iv. chor. 
53 : " Minding true things by what their mockeries be." 

41. Innocent. Idiot. See on i. 3. 79 above. 

45. Not right. Not sane, not in her right mind. L. says that "the 



1 86 N07ES. 

expression is still heard in Ireland in this sense." It is also common 
enough in this country. 

48. You have told. The early eds. omit have, which Seward supplied. 

55. Attending. " Watching for, waiting for " (Sk.). 

58. Smallness. Sk. quotes T. N. i. 4. 32 : 

" thy small pipe 
Is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound." 

Cf. M. W. i. I. 49 : " speaks small like a woman." 

60. His. Its. Gr. 228. 

64. Glade. Sometimes =an open track in the wood, as here one cut 
through the reeds. 

71. Bevy. Cf. Hen. VIII. i. 4. 4: " In all this noble bevy," etc. Wedg- 
wood quotes Fiorio : ^^ Beva, a drinking ; a bevy, as of pheasants." 

75. Antic. "An antique dance, a quaint dance" (Sk.). Antick and 
antique are used interchangeably in the early eds. of S. Cf. M. N. D. p. 
179. 

80. Willow, xvillow, luillow. For this old song, see 0th. p. 203, note 

°" 39- 

89. Of rushes. Alluding to the rush-rings used in mock-marriages. 
Cf. ^. W. p. 150, note on Tib''s rush for Tom''s fo7-efnger. 

90. Posies. Short mottoes, often inscribed on rings, knives, etc. See 
M. of V. p. 164. 

91. Lose. The old eds. have " loose " (as in 77 above) ; but, as Sk. 
and L. agree, it is only an old spelling for lose. 

107. The Broom. A very popular old song. Weber quotes it from 
an old interlude thus : 

" Brome, brome on hill, 
The gentle brome on hill, hill : 
Brome, brome on Hive hill." etc. 

108. Bonny Robin. Cf. Ham. iv. 5. 187 : " For bonny sweet Robin is 
all tny joy ;" and see our ed. p. 252. 

For the tailor making a wedding-gown^ cf. 2 Hen. IV. p. 177, note on A 
womaiCs tailor. 

lie. Rarely. Early; the reading of the old eds., changed by Weber 
and others to "rearly," which is only another spelling of the word (L.). 
Halliwell {Archaic Diet.) gives ra;v = early, as a Devonshire word. 

111. Minstrels. A trisyllable. Gr. 477. Cf. /^z<r/^//«^ in 134 below. 

112. O fair, O szveet, etc. D. notes that among " Certaine Sonets" at 
the end of Sidney's Arcadia, ed. 1598, p. 474, we find one beginning — 
" Oh faire, O sweet, when I do looke on thee," etc. 

117. Means. The early eds. have "meane ;" corrected by Colman. In 
the next line they have " For " for Far, which is found in Tonson. 

135. Weigh. That is, weigh anchor. For cheerly — c)i\^^x\\y, cf. Temp. 
i. I. 29 : " Cheerly, good hearts !" 

136. Owgh, owgh, owgh. " Obviously intended to represent the sounds 
uttered by sailors while weighing the anchor. The Gaoler and his friends 
humour the daughter by pretending to do as she wishes them. When the 
anchor is supposed to be weighed, they say — ■'/ is up !" (Sk.). 



ACT IV. SCENE /I, 187 

137. Top. Raise or tighten. '* The bowling or bowline is used to keep 
the weather-edge of a square sail tight forward, when the ship is close- 
hauled " (Sk.). Cf. Pericles, p. 146. 

140. Whai kenn'st thou ? What do you descry ? In the reply, L. sug- 
gests that there is a play on wood or wode=ma.d. Cf. M.N. I), ii. 1. 192 : 
"And here am I, and wode within this wood ;" and see our ed. p. 147. 

Spalding remarks : " The 4th act may safely be pronounced wholly 
Fletcher's. All of it, except one scene, is taken up by the episodical ad- 
ventures of the Gaoler's Daughter ; and, while much of it is poetical, it 
wants the force and originality, and, indeed, all the prominent features 
of Shakespeare's manner, either of thought, illustration, or expression." 
Hickson shows that the Gaoler's Daughter is not, as some have asserted, 
a copy of Ophelia. "The description in this scene has a certain resem- 
blance to the circumstances of the death of Ophelia, and was probably 
written with that scene in view. It has no reference whatever to the 
character of the Gaoler's Daughter, and it is the only circumstance in 
the whole play common to her and to Ophelia." 

Scene II. — 16. yove. The early eds. have " Love ;" corrected by 
Seward. 

It is strange, as L. notes, that D. and Sk. (and H. may be added) fol- 
low Mason in making stich another refer to smile (implied in smiling), and 
not io eye, as it clearly does. '■ 

18. Constellation. The Greeks identified the zodiacal constellation 
Aquarius with Ganymede. 

21. Pelops'' shoulder. "Tantalus, the favourite of the gods, once in- 
vited them to a repast, and on that occasion killed his own son Pelops, 
and having boiled him, set the flesh before them that they might eat it. 
But the immortal gods, knowing what it was, did not touch it ; Demeter 
alone, being absorbed by grief for her lost daughter, consumed the shoul- 
der of Pelops. Hereupon the gods ordered Hermes to put the limbs of 
Pelops into a cauldron, and thereby restore him to life. When the process 
was over, Clotho took him out of the cauldron, and as the shoulder con- 
sumed by Demeter was wanting, the goddess supplied its place by one 
made of ivory ; his descendants (the Pelopidae) as a mark of their origin, 
were believed to have one shoulder as white as ivory " (Smith's Classical 
Diet.). 

Fame and Honour, etc. Sk. compares B. and F., Philaster, iv. 4 : 

"Place me, some god, upon a pyramis 
Higher than hills of earth, and lend a voice 
Loud as your thunder to me, that from thence 
I may discourse to all the underworld 
The worth that dwells in him!" 

27. Swarth. Swarthy. The word occurs in T. A. ii. 3. 72. For stuart, 
see K. John, p. 152. 

35. Lewdly. Wickedly. See 2 Hen. VI. p. 158. 

38. These the eyes. The reading of the quarto, which Sk. retains. The 
editors generally change the to " thy," as the folio does ; but Emilia is 
supposed to be looking at the portrait. 



1 88 NOTES, 

39, These. H. adopts Mason's " They're." 

44. A changeling. Referring to the old notion that the fairies would 
steal beautiful babies, and leave ugly elves in their place. Cf. M. N. D. 
p. 138. For the contemptuous use oi gipsy ^ cf. R. and J. ii. 4. 44 : " Dido 
a dowdy, Cleopatra a gipsy," etc. 

45. Sotted. Besotted, infatuated. 

46. Virgin^ s. Seward, D., and H. read " virgin." 

48. Whether. Which of the two ; as in iii. 6. 295 above. 

49. Now if my sister, etc. " And now, if my sister had asked me, I 
should have said I was more inclined to Palamon " (Sk.). 

52. Fancy. Love. See M. of V. p. 148. Cf. v. 3. 103 and v. 4. 118 
below. 

53. Gawds. Baubles, toys. Cf. M. N. D. p. 126. 

63. Joy. Rejoice. Some editors have printed " mothers' joy." 
67. Fair. H. adopts Walker's conjecture of " six." 
74. These. The folio has " those," which some prefer. 
81. Fire. The early eds. have " faire " or " fair ;" corrected in Heath's 
MS. notes, and independently by D. Cf. Chaucer : 

"The cercles of his eyen in his heed 
They gloiveden bytwixe yelwe and reed, 
And lyk a grifFoun lokede he aboute." 

85. Arm''d long and round. Seward and H. read ** Arms long and 
round ;" which of course is what is meant. 

86. Baldrick. Belt. See Much Ado, p. 123. Curious =^?iSiOX2Xt, ele- 
gant. Cf. Pericles, p. 135. 

97. What he fights for. That is, love. 

104. Ivy-tods. The eds. all have " ivy-tops," but, as L. says " tops " is 
obviously a misprint for tods. " Ivy-tops " are not mentioned by any 
writer, but ivy-tods (thick bushes of ivy) are often alluded to by B. and F. 

105. Not to undo with thunder. Not to be destroyed by thunder. Sk. 
remarks: "It was supposed that some plants were thunder-proof. In 
the ' Poet-Prologue ' to Beaumont's Four Plays in One, we have the ex- 
pression, ' thunder-fearless verdant bays.' " 

106. The warlike maid. Probably referring to Pallas (Minerva). 

109. Crown. The old eds. have "corect" or "correct;" corrected by 
Seward. L. reads " court," which is perhaps to be preferred. In the 
MS. it might easily be mistaken for " corect." 

114. Clean. Sk. quotes L. L. L. v. 2, 642 : " Hector was not so clean- 
timbered." 

122. Well disposed. " Well placed or situated. It is evident that the 
poet wishes to express that the few freckles on the hero's face were 
rather becoming to him. This curious line is probably due to an at- 
tempt to improve upon Chaucer" (Sk.). In the Knightes 7^/^, Emet- 
rius is said to have "A few fraknes [freckles] in his face yspreynd" 
[sprinkled]. 

125. Auburn. Spelled " aborne " in the quarto. Cf. R. and jf. p. 163, 
note on Young Abraham Cupid. 

131. Grey-eyed. Cf. R. and J. p. 169. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 189 

132. Which yields compassion, etc. Which indicates that he will be 
merciful to the vanquished. 

137. The winner's oak. Probably alluding to "the oaken garland" 
{Cor. ii. I. 137), or corona civica of the Romans. " For whosoever saveth 
the life of a Roman, it is a manner among them to honour him with such 
a garland" (North's Plutarch). See Cor. p. 171. 

140. Charging - staff. Probably = lance. Sk. thinks that possibly a 
warder (see Rich. II. p. 163) may be meant. 

144. Seward (followed by Colman and H.) reads 

" they would show bravely 
Fighting about the titles," etc. 

154. Bravery. Splendor, display. Cf. A. Y. L. p. 165. 

Hickson calls this scene "Fletcher's masterpiece." Spalding says: 
*' In the soliloquy of the lady, while the poetical spirit is well preserved, 
the alternations of feeling are given with an abruptness and a want of 
insight into the nicer shades of association, which resemble the extrava- 
gant stage effects of the King and No King infinitely more than the del- 
icate yet piercing glance with which Shakespeare looks into the human 
breast in the Othello ; the language, too, is smoother and less powerful 
than Shakespeare's, and one or two classical allusions are a little too 
correct and studied for him." 

Scene III. — 6. Lards it. Is mixed up with it. Cf. Ham. p. 247. 

7. Farces. Fills ; literally, stuffs. Cf. Hen. V. iv. i. 280: "The farced 
title running fore the king." Y ox forced in the same sense, see T. and C. 
V. I. 64 : "wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit." Cf. our 
ed. p. 185. 

II. Down-a. Cf. Ham. iv. 5. 170: "You must sing, Down a-dowiiy 
and you call him a-down-a.'''' 

13. Dido. Cf. A. and C. iv. 14. 53 : " Dido and her ^neas shall want 
troops," etc. 

18. Piece of silver. Alluding to the obolus which Charon was sup- 
posed to demand for ferriage over the Styx, and which was placed in the 
mouth of the corpse for that purpose. For references to Charon, cf. 
Pich. III. i. 4. 46 and T. and C. iii. 2. 1 1. 

20. Are — there ''s,ttc. The quarto has "as the'rs" and the folio "as 
there 's ;" corrected by Mason. L. defends the old reading. 

23. Proserpine. Cf. W. T. iv. 4. 116 and Tand C. ii. i. 37. 

26. Barley-break. A rural game often alluded to in the old dramatists. 
It was played in various ways, but generally in the South of England by 
six persons, three of each sex. The general idea of it was that one couple 
should try to catch the rest, when within certain boundaries, without let- 
ting go each other's hands. Cf. Nares. 

35. Engraffed. Rooted, deep-fixed. Cf. Lear, p. 177, note on Long- 
ingraffed. 

42. Perttcrbed mind, etc. Cf. Macb. v. 3. 40 : " Canst thou not minis- 
ter to a mind diseas'd," etc. 

50. A great pen'' wo7'th. A good bargain. Cf. W. T. iv. 4. 650 : " though 



IQO NOTES. 

the pennyworth on his side be the worst" (that is, though he get the 
worst of the bargain), etc. 

For state=tsX2Xt, see M. of V.-^. 151, note on Estate. 

62. Green. " Simple, silly " (Sk.). Cf. OtA. ii. i. 250, etc. 

68. Carve her. Carve for her. Sk. remarks : " Mr. Knight inserted 
for before her ; but the following extract from Beaumont and Fletcher's 
play of Love''s Pilgrimage (i. i) will shew that the text is right as it stands : 

' Incubo. I '11 try your kid, 

If he be sweet: he looks well. {Tastes it.'\ Yes; he is good. 
I '11 carve you, sir. 

Philippo. You use me too too princely; 

Taste and carve too ! 

I}iaibo. I love to do these offices.' 

" And again in Beaumont's Poems (in Beaumont's and Fletcher's Works^ 
ed. Dyce, xi. 483), we find the line, 

' Drink to him, carve hint, give him compliment. ' ' ' 

For carving to [or for) a person as a mark of affection, see C. of E. p. 
120, note on 117. The phrase was also applied to certain gestures of an 
amorous sort (see M. W. p. 137, note on Carves), and H. may be right 
in explaining it so here. The quarto has " crave her ;" corrected in the 
folio. 

69. Still among. All the while, ever with the rest. Walker compares 
Sidney, Arcadia, book iv. : "And ever among she would sauce her 
speech," etc. He cites other passages which do not seem to us paral- 
lel ; as Spenser, F. Q. vi. 12. 11 : 

" There they awhile together thus did dwell 
In much delight and many joys among ;' ' 

where it may be merely a transposition of "among many joys." Cf. Mil- 
ton, Comtts, 1007 : 

"Till free consent the gods among 
Make her his eternal bride," etc. 

None of the editors have quoted 2 H'e7i. IV. v. 3. 23 : 

"And lusty lads roam here and there 
So merrily, 
And ever among so merrily." 

71. Play feres. Playmates. Cf. Pericles, i. prol. 21 : "The king unto 
him took a fere ;" and see our ed. p. 129. See also v. i. 116 below. 

75. What is. Changed by Seward to "what are." 

Out of square. L. quotes Edwardes, Damon and Pythias: "yet he is 
far out of square." 

76. Regitnent. Rule, government. Cf. A. and C. iii. 6. 95 : ** And 
gives his potent regiment to a trull." 

Approved. Proved. See Much Ado, p. 134. 

80. Success. Issue, result. Cf. f. C. p. 151, note on Opinions of success. 

Spalding gives this scene to Fletcher, to whom he assigns the entire 
underplot of the play; but Hickson is satisfied that Shakespeare is the 
author. He considers that it is like him " in style and language, and its 
freedom from all the marks of imitation;" and especially in its "high 



ACT V. SCENE I. 



191 



moral purpose," viewing in it ** the natural punishment of the principal 
character for her ill-governed desires, and the mode she took of gratify- 
ing them." The " perfect coherence of the mad passages, and their per- 
tinency to the general subject" (almost a test in itself), also stamp it as 
Shakespeare's. 



ACT V. 

Scene I. — The critics are almost unanimous in assigning this act, 

'with the exception of the 2d scene, to Shakespeare ; but Sk., L., and 

Fleay (see p. 35 above) agree that Fletcher wrote the opening lines. L. 

says that he had formed this opinion before Skeat's edition appeared. 

There are 13 double endings in the first 17 lines. 

3. Fires. A dissyllable ; as often. Gr. 480. Cf. bonfires in 86 below, 
and sire in ii. 5. 9 above. 

4. Sivellijig. Theo. conjectured " smelling." 

9. Germane. Akin ; as in W. T. iv, 4. 802 : "those that are germane 
to him ;" T. of A. iv. 3. 344 : " germane to the lion," etc. The early eds. 
have "german," which is the same word ; as in cousin-german. Cf. hu- 
mane and human (see Macb. p. 218). 

10. To blow the nearness out, etc. Sk. says : " This line is somewhat 
obscure. To blow out is to extinguish ; and, if nearness means nearness 
in blood, the sense is — to extinguish that kinship that exists between 
you." Probably, however, nearness refers rather to their friendship than 
to their kinship. Dr. Ingleby (according to L.) conjectures "fierceness." 

16. Prayers. A dissyllable ; as not unfrequently. Sk. cites M. W. v. 
5. 54 : " That, ere she sleep, has thrice her prayers said." 

25. Tender. Regard, treat. Cf. Rich. III. ii. 4. 72 : "As well I tender 
you and all of yours," etc. See also Ham. p. 244. 

28. Confound. Destroy. Cf. M. of V. p. i^i. 

29. To7-t. It is doubtful, as Sk. says, whether this is here =bear, carry 
{Fr. porter), or =bring into port. The latter seems to us the more prob- 
able, though no other example has been fo-und of this sense. 

30. Limiter. Arbiter or shaper of our destinies. 

34. Lovers. Friends ; as in v. 4. 123 below. Cf. J. C. iii. 2. 13 : " Ro- 
mans, countrymen, and lovers," etc. See also M. of V. p. 153. He calls 
them sacrifices, because they are to die with him if defeated. 

37. Father of ii. That is, the perception of danger which is ever the 
cause of fear. The early eds. have " farther off it ;" corrected by Theo. 
L. defends the old reading thus : '•^ Apprehension \% the perception of dan- 
ger : this underlies fear, is therefore farther off than fear is; beyond it, 
and so farther to reach and harder to eradicate." This is ingenious, but 
father of it seems the more natural expression here. 

39. Require. Ask, beseech. Cf. Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 144 : " In humblest 
manner I require your highness," etc. See also i. i. 93 above. 

44. Will stick. The early eds. have "stickes" or "sticks ;" corrected 
by Seward. H. reads "shall stick;" and L. conjectures "on me, where 
she sticks." 



192 



NOTES. 



46. Cestron. Cistern. Sk. notes that the word is spelled cesterne in 
the ist folio in 0th. iv. 2. 62 and A. and C. ii. 5. 95. 
49. Hast turti'd, etc. Cf. Macb. ii. 2. 61 : 

" No, this my hand will rather 
The multitudinous seas incarnadine, 
Making the green one red." 

The words whose approach were added by Seward, and something of 
fche kind is evidently wanted. He adds : " that comets prewarn or fore- 
tel wars is the vulgar as well as poetical creed ;" and he cites Milton, P. 
L. ii. 708 : 

"like a comet burn'd, 
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge 
In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair 
Shakes pestilence and war.'' 

51. Vast field. Probably ^boundless, wide-spread battle-fields ; though 
it may have another sense of the Latin vastus, namely, desolated (L.). 

53. Poison. Plenty. Cf. Temp. iv. I. no: "Earth's increase, foison 
plenty" (the song of Ceres) ; and see our ed. p. 125. 

54. Armipotent. The word is taken from Chaucer. Cf. Z. L. L. v. 2. 
650, 657, and A. W. iv. 3. 265. The old eds. have " armenypotent " or 
" armenipotent ;" corrected by Seward. 

62. Enormous. Abnormal, disorderly. Cf. Lear, ii. 2. 176: "this 
enormous state ;" and see our ed. p. 206. 

66. Plurisy. Plethora, surplus. See Ham. p. 256. 

68. In this invocation to Mars, if anywhere in the play, we have the 
fine gold of Shakespeare with no admixture of Fletcher's baser metal. 
As Hickson says, it is " unparalleled as an invocation," and " one of the 
grandest examples of the application of circumstances to the character 
of a power that we have ever met with." 

69. Glister. S. does not use glisten. CL M.of V. p. 145. 

73. Do. The plural is used because whose is plural. You whose free 
nobleness do ifiake=yovi, who, in your free nobleness, do make. 

79. And weep, etc. The reading of the early eds. Seward (followed by 
all the editors except L.) reads "To weep ;" but, as L. remarks, " surely 
the idea of enforcement is sufficiently plain to allow the old reading to 
stand, and make him weep being the sense if expanded." Theo. conject- 
ures "into a girl" — "till he become tender as a girl." Weep unto = 
weep before, weep in imploring the favour of 

83. Before Apollo. That is, sooner than Apollo, the god of medicine. 

85. Polled. Shorn, bald-headed. The early eds. have " pould," which, 
as L. notes, probably indicates the old pronunciation. Cf. Cor. iv. 5. 215, 
where the folio has "poul'd." See our ed. p. 257. 

86. Bonfires. A trisyllable. See on 3 above. 

87. Skipt. Jumped over or through, unsinged by the fiame. Have 
( = has) is another example of "confusion of proximity." See on iii. 6. 
192 above. " Skipping over bonfires was one of the customs observed 
on Midsummer's Eve" (L.). 

89. Abuse young lays. That is, "murder the songs," as we say (Sk.). 
92. His mortal son. Phaethon, whose mother, Clymene, was a mortal. 



ACT V. SCENE /. 193 

Cf. T. G.of V. p. 140, note on 153. 77?^ huntress is of course Diana, who 
fell in love with Endymion. Cf. M. of V. v. i. 109. For moist, as ap- 
plied to Diana or the moon, see Ham. p. 175, note on The moist star. 

102. Liberal. Free-spoken, wanton. Cf. Ham. p. 258. 

L. quotes here the following from Fletcher's Women Pleased, i. i : 

"I never call'd a fool my friend, a madman, 
That durst oppose his fame to all opinions, 
His life to unhonest dangers ; I never lov'd him, 
Durst know his name, that sought a virgin's ruin, 
Nor took I pleasure in acquaintance 
With men, that give as loose reins to their fancies 
As the wild ocean to his raging fluxes; 
A noble soul I twin witli," etc 

105. Haiie hotly asked them, etc. Cf T. and C. v. 2. 130 : " Think we 
had mothers," etc. Large=-\oosQ, licentious. Cf Mitch Ado, ii. 3. 206, 
iv. I. 53 ; and see our ed. p. 139. 

108. I knezv a man, etc. Furnivall (preface to New Shaks. Soc. ed. of 
Spalding's Letter, p. vi.) asks: "Again, is it likely — and again, I say, at 
the end of his career, with all his experience behind him — that Shak- 
spere would make his hero Palamon publicly urge on Venus in his prayer 
to her, that she was bound to protect him because he 'd believed a wan- 
ton young wife's word that her old incapable husband was the father of 
her child? Is this the kind of thing that the Shakspere of Imogen, of 
Desdemona, of Queen Katherine, would put forward as the crown of his 
life and work V Spalding refers to the passage as an " unpleasing sketch 
of the deformity of decrepit old age," but believes it to be Shakespeare's, 
as it is "largely impressed with his air of truth," etc. Hickson makes 
no comments on the passage. 

113. Gioby. Protruding. 

114. That. So that ; as in v. 3. 26 below. Gr. 283. 

115. Anatomy. Skeleton. Cf. IC. John, p. 160 (note on 40), or T. N. 
p. 149. 

116. Fere. Mate, bride. See on iv. 3. 71 above. 

120. Defier. Apparently =one who despises or spurns. For the verb 
in this sense, see K. John, p. 160. 

122. Close. Private, secret. Cf. Rich. TIL p. 183. 

123. Concealments. Things that should be concealed or kept secret. 
126. Soft sweet. D. prints "soft-sweet." 

131. Chase. Hunting-ground; as in 7! ^. ii.3. 255 : " Upon the north 
side of this pleasant chase," etc. 

137. In the stage-direction records is ^recorders, a kind of small flute 
or flageolet. See M. N. D. p. 183. Still mnsic=soh music. 

140. Wi7id-fann^d snow. Cf W. T. iv. 4. 375 : 

"or the fann'd snow that's bolted 
By the northern blasts twice o'er." 

Sk. compares Cor. v. 3. 65. See also T of A^ iv. 3. 386, Ham. iii. i. 141, and 
Cymb. ii. 5.^ 13. 

Ow female knights, cf Much Ado, v. 3. 13 ; and see our ed. p. 169. 

144. -Green eye. See the long note in R, and J. p. 198. 

N 



194 NOTES. 

145. Maailaie. Cf. L. L. L. i. 2. 97 : " Most maculate thoughts," etc. 

i^j. Scurril. Scurrilous. Cf. Zl diz/r/ C i. 3. 148 : "scurril jests," etc. 

Po7'f=ga.te. See Cor. p. 211. Theo. and Dr. Ingleby conjecture 
" porch " (cf. Ham. i. 5. 63), but the figure is the same with either word. 

151. I have pointed. That is, I have a husband pointed, or appointed, 
for me. Y ox pointed, see T. of S. p. 148. 

154. Of mine eyes. The early eds., and the modern ones down to that 
of D., make these words limit election. 

158. Prete7tders. "Aspirants; not in a bad sense" (Sk.). 

161. File and quality. Position and office. 

163. General of ebbs and flotus. That is, ruler of the tides. Sk. says 
that this is "a very singular way of referring to the moon or Diana;" 
but cf. Temp.Y. i. 270: "That could control the moon, make flows and 
ebbs ; M. N. D. ii. i. 103 : " the moon, the governess of floods ;" i Hen. 
JV. \. 2. 32 : "governed, as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress 
the moon," etc. 

165. Advances. Raises. See on i. i. 93 above. 

167. A virgin flower, etc. Cf. M. N. I), i. i. 76 : 

" But eartblier happier is the rose distill'd 
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn. 
Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness." 

172. Unclasp. Unfold, reveal. Cf. Muck Ado,'}, i. 325: "unclasp my 
heart," etc. 

Scene II. — 17. Ho there, doctor! Mason would read "Hold there;" 
but cf. V. 4. 41 below : " Hold, ho !" 

20. Honesty. Chastity ; as often. Cf. Ham. p. 218, note on Honest. 

34. Videlicet. That is to say ; as in M. W. i. i. 140, A. V. L. iv. i. 97, 
etc. 

44. Come att and long tail. A proverbial expression = whatever kind 
may come. It seems to have been originally used of dogs with tails 
clipped or undipped, but came to be applied to horses also. Cf. iii. 4. 
22 above, and see M. /^. p. 155. 

45. Turns ye. That is,y^r ye; the "ethical dative." See Gr, 220. 

46. He 7/ dance, etc. There is perhaps an allusion to Banks's famous 
horse. See L. L. L. p. 133, note on 52. 

47. Hobby-horse. A figure in the morris-dances. See Ham. p. 225. 
49. Light d' Love. A very popular dance-tune in the time of S. See 

Much Ado, p. 150. 

59. Bottles. Bundles of hay. See M. N. D. p. 173. 

60. Strike. Strikes, or bushels ; still used in provincial English (Sk.). 
Bailey calls the strike " four bushels ;" but, as L. suggests, this is probably 
a slip for "four pecks.^'' The measure, however, like many others, may- 
have varied in difl'erent localities. 

62. A miller'' s mare. " A miller's mare, working round a beaten track 
(to drive the mill), was perhaps proverbial for her steady-going atten- 
tion to business" (L.). 

69. Stool-ball. A game played with a ball and one or two stools, very 
popular among young women. 



ACT V. SCENE III. 



195 



74. Nice. Scrupulous, punctilious. 

82. O, sir, etc. Seward, Weber, and H. give this to the Gaoler. 

Spalding says of this scene that it is "disgusting and imbecile in the 
extreme," and " may be dismissed with a single quotation : ' What stufif 
she utters !' " Hickson compares the scene with iv. 3 (ascribed to S.) : 
" We must bear in mind the advice of the doctor in the former scene ; 
he tells the wooer to take upon himself the name of Palamon, and to do 
whatever shall become Palamon, still aiming to intermingle his petition 
of grace and acceptance into her favour ; but it could never be imagined 
from these directions that the 'union' was to take place under such cir- 
cumstances. . . . The object sought was her restoration ; and in the last 
scene of act v. the gaoler informs Palamon that his daughter 

' is well restor'd, 
And shortly to be mamed.' 

But turning to the second scene, we find the doctor saying, in reference 
to the wooer's telling him he had 'kissed her twice,' 

"T was well done; twenty times had been far better, 
For there tlie cure lies mainly.' 

That insight into the nature of his patient's disorder, displayed in so re- 
markable a manner by the doctor in a former scene, in this has left him ; 
and his business here seems to be to recommend and nurse up a sensual 
idea into an alliance with better feelings. The daughter's brain still 
'coins,' but the subjects are far-fetched, and have no relation to the 
speaker's condition or state of mind, nor do they help the progress of the 
play .... The former scene is in prose wholly, while this is in Fletcher's 
verse ; but, in short, the tone and moral effect of the two scenes are so 
different, the same characters have so altered an aspect, the language, 
sentiments, and allusions are so unlike, that the case of any one who 
can read and deliberately compare thein, and still believe them to be by 
the same writer, we must give over as hopeless." 

Scene III. — 6. / 7uill stay here, etc. The pointing is that of L., and 
essentially the same as in the old eds. ; and the meaning is plain : I tvilt 
stay hej e {. . .) not taint mine eye, etc. D. follows Weber in pointing thus : 

"With what shall happen — 'gainst the which there is 
No deafing — but to hear, not taint," etc. 

H. reads " No deafing; but I dare not taint," etc. Biit to kear=so as 
not to hear. See Gr. 122. 

12. In their kind. In their nature, in reality; opposed to I>enciird=^ 
painted. For kind, cf, A. W. p. 141, note on By kind. 

16. Price. Prize, reward. Cf. 31 below. 

17. Question's title. "The title in dispute, the right of the contro- 
versy" (L. ). D. and H. read " questant's " ( cf. A. W. ii. i. 16) ; but 
here, as L. remarks, there being two questants, to crown the questanfs 
title (that is, the disputant's title) would be unmeaning. 

18. Wink. Shut my eyes. Cf. Cymb. p. 182. 

21. Envy. Malice. Cf. M.ofV. p. 151, note on Envious. 
26. 7"hat. So that. See on v. i. 114 above. 



196 



NOTES. 



28. Set off. Offset, cancel. For to with guilty, see W. T. p. 202. 

42. An ettgine bent. An engine of war ready for use. Bend, which is 
proj^erly used only of a bow, is often applied to other warlike instruments. 
Cf. K. John, ii. I. 37 : '* Our cannon shall be bent," etc. See also 3 Hen. 
VI. V. I. 87, Rich. III. i. 2. 95, Lear, iv. 2. 74, etc. In the stage-direction 
at iii. 1.30 above we have '■'■ bends his fist.'''' 

45. Aspect. Regularly accented on the last syllable in S. Cf. Gr. 490. 

46. GrmPd. Deeply furrowed. 

49. His object. Its object. Gr. 228. 

54. On hitn. The old eds. have "on them ;" corrected by Seward. 
59. 7he spoiling of his figure. See p. 20 above. 

63. Wai'd. Posture of defence. Cf. Temp. i. 2. 471 : "Come from 
your ward," etc. Offence = '\Ao'^, or offensive movem.ent. 

69. Success. Accented here on the first syllable. Cf. i. i. 209 above. 

70. Prim' St. For the superlative, cf. Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 229 : " the primest 
creature." For the contracted form (of which we have already had sev- 
eral examples in this play), see Gr. 473. 

72. Servant. Lover. Cf. i. i. 89 above. 

75. In V else. Seward, Colman, and H. omit else. 

80. Pyramid. See iii. 6. 295 above. 

82. Redemption. Rescue (of Arcite). 

83. Titters. The early eds. have "Tytlers," which L. explains as 
*' contenders about a title, questants." He adds that there were eight 
bold tillers, but only two bold titters. It seems to us more natural to call 
Palamon and Arcite here the titters than the tillers. If there were such 
a word as the latter, it ought to mean givers or possessors of titles rather 
than contenders about them. The change to Tylters was first made by 
Tonson, and all the eds. since have given titters. The original reading 
seems to have been overlooked until L. called attention to it. 

86. Their single share, etc. The share of nobleness belonging to each 
puts any living woman at a disadvantage in the comparison, shows her 
worth to be inferior. Line 87 is wanting in the folio, and was first re- 
stored from the quarto by Colman. 

95. Half-sights saw, etc. We still speak of "seeing with half an eye." 

96. God's lid ! An oath commonly contracted into ''slid ! See M. N. 
D. p. 155. Emilia swears more like Queen Elizabeth than "like a com- 
fit-maker's wife," as Hotspur says. See i Hen. IV. p. 177, note on 
249. 

99. Go to law with. Cope with, defend themselves against. 

10 1. Miscarry. See on iii. 6. 304 above. 

103. Our fancies. Our affections, our love. See on iv. 2. 52 above. 

119. Alcides. Hercules. Cf. M. of V. ii. i. 35, iii. 2. 55, T of S. i. 2. 
260, etc. 

120. A sow of lead. The word sow is used like //^ to denote a mass 
of smelted metal. See Wb. Sk. compares 2 Hen. IV. i. i. 118. 

124. Philo7nels. Nightingales ; as in R. of L. 1079, 1128, M. N. D. ii. 2. 
12, etc. 

127. Out-breasted. Outsung. Cf. ^;'(?^j-/= musical voice, in Z! iV. ii. 3. 
20. See our ed. p. 136. 



ACT V. SCENE IV. 



197 



130. Hardly. After hard fighting. Cf. T. G. of V. ii. i. 115; "Now 
trust me, madam, it came hardly off" (with difficulty), etc. 

133. Piuch ''em. " Vex them. It was in the very spirit of chivalry 
that a warrior should not care to survive defeat. This doom of Palamou 
and his three knights would be revolting, if it were not that the specta- 
tors might be expected to know enough of Chaucer's story to make them 
suspect that the sentence would not really be executed. To which must 
be added the consideration, that the spectators of plays in the time of 
James I. could behold, almost unmoved, many things which we now shud- 
der even to read " (Sk.). 

135. Arm your prize. That is, take her in your arms, embrace her. 
Cf. Cymb. iv. 2. 400 : " come, arm him." K. explains it rather tamely by 
" Offer your arm to the lady you have won ;" and Mason says, " Take 
her by the arm." 

Spalding says of this scene, that the details "make it clear that Shake- 
speare's hand was in it." He adds : " The greater part, it is true, is not 
of the highest excellence ; but the vacillations of Emilia's feelings are 
well and delicately given, some individual thoughts and words mark 
Shakespeare, there is little of his obscure brevity, much of his thought- 
fulness legitimately applied, and an instance or two of its abuse." 

Scene IV. — 5. To live still. L. is in doubt whether still modifies live^ 
or Have ; but it seems better to connect it with the former. 

6. We prevent. Sk. reads " herein we prevent." 

%. Rheum. Rheumatism. Qi.M.forM.m.i.T^w " Do curse the gout, 
serpigo, and the rheum," etc. 

Lag hours. Latter hours, or lingering hours ; or, perhaps, combining 
the two meanings. Sk. quotes i Hen. IV. v. i. 23 : 

" To entertain the lag-end of my life 
With quiet hours." 

Attend for grey approachei's = 2iW?dt aged comers towards the gods, or 
those who die in old age. 

ID. l/nwapper^d. " Unworn, not debilitated " (D.). In T.ofA.iv.T,. 
38, we find wappen'd in the opposite sense (see our ed. p. 158) ; and it is 
a question whether the original word is wappen or wapper. As Sk. says, 
both are so rare that it is best to leave them unaltered. 

II. That. " That is, who ; referring to zve in 9. In the next line stick 
refers to the grey approachers '^ (Sk.). 

13. Eor. Because ; as in i. 2. 54 above. For clear, see on i. 2. 74 
above. 

15. Too-too. See M. of V. p. 143. 

20. Tottering Fortune. Signifying, as Fluellen says {Hen. V. iii. 6. 35), 
" that she is turning, and inconstant, and mutability, and variation ; and 
her foot, look you, is fixed upon a spherical stone, which rolls, and rolls, 
and rolls." 

23. Taste to you. Alluding to the ancient custom of having the king's 
food tasted before it was served, as a precaution against poison. See 
Rich. II, p. 220, note on Taste of it first. 

35. Quit. Requite. Cf. iii. 6. 24 above. The old eds. have " quight ;" 



198 



NOTES. 



and L. thinks we should read "quite," which he takes to be a distinct 
word from quit. 

47. Dearly. The old eds. have "early;" corrected by Seward. Cf. 
129 below ; and for the intensive use of the word, see A. Y. L. p. 147. 

50. Oiviiig. Owning, having. See on i. i. 88 above. 

53. Note. Stigma. Cf. R. of L. 208 : "sham'd with the note," etc. 

54. Allowance. Authority, confirmation. 

55. Calkins. Calks (or corks, as the word is often spelled and pro- 
nounced), or the points in a horseshoe that prevent slipping. 

56. Tell. Count ; as in iii. 5. 80 above. The calkins seemed to touch 
the stones lightly, like the fingers in counting. 

60. For, as they say, etc. Probably alluding to the story of Pythagoras 
and the blacksmith's hammers. Cf. Longfellow, To a Child : 

"As great Pythagoras of yore, 
Standing beside the blacksmith's door, 
And hearing the hammers, as they smote 
The anvils with a different note, 
Stole from the varying tones that hung 
Vibrant on every iron tongue 
The secret of the sounding wire, 
And formed the seven-corded lyre." 

Chappell says that the story is an absurd one, because " the tone of a bell 
cannot be altered in pitch by changing the weight of its clapper." The 
story is doubtless mythical, but if one wanted to defend it he might re- 
ply that possibly the blacksmith and his men were hammering on different 
anvils. It will be noted that Longfellow has " anvils." 

62. Cold as old Saturn. A reference to the astrological descriptions 
of the planet Saturn, which was called cold because the god for whom it 
was named was represented as bearing the " frosty signs " of extreme old 
age. Cf. Cymb. ii. 5. 12 : 

"A pudency so rosy the sweet view on 't 
Might well have warm'd old Saturn." 

Here theyfr^ malevolent shows that the planet is meant. Cf. Much Ado, 
p. 126, note on Bor7i nnder Satiir?i. 

66. Toy. " A freak, a sudden whim. Cf. Philaster, v. 3 : * What if a 
toy take 'em i' the heels now, and they run all away ?' and North's Plu- 
tarch : ' When a mad mood or toy took him in the head ' " (Sk.). 

69. Manage. Used, as often, in the technical sense of the management 
or training of a horse. See M. of V. p. 153. 

72. Jadery. "Jade's tricks" {Much Ado, i. I. 145, A. W. iv. 5. 64, 
etc.). For Jade as applied to a vicious nag, cf. 81 below. For disseat, 
cf. Macb. v. 3. 21. 

77. On end he stands. The quarto prints thus : 

" He kept him tweene his legges, on his hind hoofes 

on end he stands 
That Arcites leggs being higher then his head," etc. 

This indicates either that the compositor could not make out the "copy," 
or that the first part of the line somehow dropped out after it was put in 
type. The sense, however, is complete, and it seems better to leave the 



ACT V, SCENE IV. 



199 



text as it is than to read " Quickly uprearing, so on end he stands," as 
H. does. Sk. thinks that " the half-line is rather effective." * 

81. Poise. Weight ; as in Lear, ii. i. 122 : " Occasions, noble Gloster, 
of some poise ;" 0th. iii. 3. 82 : " full of poise and difficult weight," etc. 

92. Told. Counted. Cf. 56 above. 

/ was false. " Seward remarks : ' I believe the reader will not easily 
be convinced that Arcite had been false.' In fact, the dramatists have 
forgotten to insert any instances of his falseness. The epithet 'false Ar- 
cite ' is in the Knightes Tale, 287 ; but even Chaucer has not made it very 
clear that Arcite really was so ; unless, indeed, we refer to his poem en- 
titled Of queen Annelida and false Arcite'''' (Sk.). 

98. Honour. That is, Arcite's obsequies. 

loi. Yonr thanks. The old eds. have " Our thanks ;" corrected by D. 

104. Arrose. Sprinkle (Fr. arroser). The old eds. have " arowze ;" 
and Cotgrave spells the Fr. verb "arrouser." 

108. Grace. Honour; as in 125 below. Ci. to do grace (i Hen. IV. 
ii. I. 79, y. C. iii. 2. 62), /// grace of{M. N. D. iv. I. 139, Ham. i. 2. 124), etc. 

109. Bear this hence. This direction to remove the body was proba- 
bly inserted to suit the requirements of the old stage. See Ham. p. 242. 

118. Fancy. Love. Cf. iv. 2. 52 above. 

1^3. Lovers. Friends. See on v. i. 34 above. 

126. /;/ whose end. At the end of which /?/;/<?r<^/. 

131. Charmers. "That is, enchanters, ruling us at their will" (Sew- 
ard). 

135. And xvith you, etc. " Cease to dispute with you who are beyond 
the reach of our expostulations" (Sk.). 

137. Like the time. Sk. explains this, "as others do, by hiding our 
griefs;" but it is clearly =as this sad time demands, referring to the 
preparations for Arcite's funeral. Cf. K. John, v. 7. no : " O, let us pay 
the time but needful woe." For the form of expression here, cf. Macb. 
i. 5. 62 : " Look like the time." 

Spalding says of this scene : " The manner is Shakespeare's, and 
some parts are little inferior to his very finest passages." Hickson makes 
no comment upon it. Swinburne believes that Shakespeare's work has 
been interpolated and filled out by Fletcher. He says: "The scene is 
opened by Shakespeare in his most majestic vein of meditative or moral 
verse, pointed and coloured as usual with him alone by direct and abso- 
lute aptitude to the immediate sentiment and situation of the speaker 
and of no man else : then either Fletcher strikes in for a moment with 
a touch of somewhat more Shakespearean tone than usual, or possibly 
we have a survival of some lines' length, not unretouched by Fletcher, 
from Shakespeare's first sketch for a conclusion of the somewhat calam- 
itous and cumbrous underplot, which in any case was ultimately left for 

* Since this note was in type, it has occurred to us that the words on e^td he stands 
were perhaps interlined in the " copy " as a substitute for on his hind hoofs (the latter 
being accidentally left without crossing out), and that we should read : 

" He kept him 'tween his legs, on end he stands, 
That Arcite's legs," etc. 



200 NOTES. 

Fletcher to expand into such a shape and bring by such means to an end 
as we may safely swear that Shakespeare would never have admitted; 
then with the entrance and ensuing narrative of Pirithous we have none 
but Shakespeare before us again, though it be Shakespeare undoubtedly 
in the rough, and not as he might have chosen to present himself after 
due revision, with rejection (we may well suppose) of this point and re- 
adjustment of that ; then upon the arrival of the dying Arcite with his 
escort there follows a grievous little gap, a flaw but pitifully patched by 
Fletcher, whom we recognize at wellnigh his worst and weakest in Pala- 
mon's appeal to his kinsman for a last word, ' if his heart, his woiihy^ 
manly hearf (an exact and typical example of Fletcher's tragically pro- 
saic and prosaically tragic dash of incurable commonplace), 'be yet un- 
broken,' and in the flaccid and futile answer which fails so signally to 
supply the place of the most famous and pathetic passage in all the mas- 
terpiece of Chaucer; a passage to which even Shakespeare could have 
added but some depth and grandeur of his own giving, since neither he 
nor Dante's very self nor any other among the divinest of men could 
have done more or better than match it for tender and true simplicity 
of words more 'dearly sweet and bitter 'than the bitterest or sweetest of 
men's tears. Then after the duly and properly conventional engage- 
ment on the parts of Palamon and Emilia respectively to devote the an- 
niversary 'to tears' and 'to honour,' the deeper tone returns for one 
grand last time, grave at once and sudden and sweet as the full choral 
opening of an anthem : the note which none could ever catch of Shake- 
speare's very voice gives out the peculiar cadence that it alone can give 
in the modulated instinct of a solemn change or shifting of the metrical 
emphasis or ictus from one to the other of two repeated words — 

'that nought could buy 
Dear love but loss of dear love!' 

That is a touch beyond the ear or the hand of Fletcher : a chord sound- 
ed from Apollo's own harp after a somewhat hoarse and reedy wheeze 
from the scrannel-pipe of a lesser player than Pan. Last of all, in words 
worthy to be the latest left of Shakespeare's, his great and gentle The- 
seus winds up the heavenly harmonies of his last beloved grand poem." 



EPILOGUE. 

2. Say. "Here say apparently means speak; and the simile seems 
to consist in a comparison with schoolboys who are afraid to say their 
lesson " (Sk.). 

3. Cruel fearful. The cruel is a mere intensive. Cf. Hen. V. v. 2. 216 : 
" I love thee cruelly." 

12. The tale. Evidently, as L. notes, a reference to the source of the 
play. We refers of course to the actors. 

17. Loves. Plural because referring to more than one person. Cf. 
Rich. IT. p. 206, note on Sights. 



INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES 
EXPLAINED. 



absolute (=perfect), 171. 
abuse young lays, 192. 
advance (=:^raise), 158, 165, 

194. 
advertised (accent), 175. 
affect (=love), 174. 
affections, 167. 
aglets, 178. 
Alcides, 196. 
allow (=approve), 174- 
allowance, 198. 
alow, 181. 
anatomy, 193. 
angel (=bird), 155. 
antic, 186. 
any means, by, 1 73 . 
a-pieces, 184. 
appointment, 168, 175. 
approved (^proved), 190. 
apricock, 173. 
arm your prize, 197. 
armed long and round, 1S8. 
armipotent, 192. 
arraignment, no more, 166. 
arrose, 199. 
Artesius, 160. 
as dangerous as poor, 166. 
aspect (,accent), 196. 
attend for grey approachers, 

197. 
attendmg, 186. 
attributes (accent), 164. 
auburn, 188. 
Aulis, i6i. 

baldrick, 188. 
bare (=threadbare), 163. 
barley-break, 189. 
battle struck, i68. 
Bavian, 180. 
beast-eating, 182. 
beastly, 177. 
becking, 165. 
Bellona, 157. 
bends his fist, 196. 
beneficial, 183. 
bent brow, 176. 
bent (engine), 196. 



better lined, 170. 

bevy, 186. 

blazon, 175. 

blood-siz'd, 158. 

blow the nearness out, 191. 

blubbered, 161. 

bones (for music), i8i. 

bonfires (trisyllable), 192. 

Bonny Robin, 1S6. 

bottles (of hay), 194. 

bow not, 183. 

bowling, 187. 

brake, 176. 

bravery, 189. 

break, 178, 180. 

bride-house, 156. 

broached, 166. 

Broom, The, 186. 

business (trisyllable), 185. 

but, 195. 

buttons (=buds), 174. 

buz, 181. 

calkins, 198. 
Capaneus (accent), 157. 
carack, 179. 
carve her, 190. 
cestron, 192. 
changeling, i88. 
chapel (verb), 156. 
chared, 176. 
charging-staff, 189. 
charmers, 199. 
chase, 193. 
cheers (=faces), 170. 
chop (=exchange), 174. 
choris, 181. 
chough hoar, 156. 
clean, 188. 

clear-spirited, 164, 197. 
close (:=secret), 193. 
coil, 174. 

cold as old Saturn, 198. 
come cut and longtail, 194. 
compassion (metre), 185. 
compelled (accent), 175. 
concealments, 193. 
conceived, 163. 



confound (:=destroy), 191. 
convent (verb), 168, 170. 
conversation, 172. 
cords, drams, knives, etc., 

160. 
corslet (verb), 161. 
counsel, 175. 
count, 166. 
course (=sail), 179. 
cozener (play upon), 175. 
cradles (of oxlips), 155. 
cranks, 163. 
creation, 158. 
Creon, 156. 
cruel-fearful, 200. 
cry (=pack), 174. 
cunning (=skill), 166. 
curious (= elaborate), 188. 
currant (play upon;, 162. 
cut (= horse), 179, 194. 

dare, 165. 
dearly, 198. 
defier, 193. 
delivered, 170. 
deliverly, 180. 
depart (noun), 166. 
depart (=;part), 170. 
devils roar, 174. 
Dido, 189. 
dim, 155. 
disensanity, 180. 
disposed, 188. 
disseat, 198. 

distinguish villager, 181. 
dividual, 167. 
dole, 170. 
doucets, 182. 
down-a, 189. 
duke, 156. 

edict (accent), 183. 
eftsoons, 174. 
engine, 196. 
engraffed, 189. 
enormous, 192. 
envy, 195. 
et opus exegi, etc., 181. 



202 



INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED. 



even (verb), i68. 
even jump, 163. 
eye of Phoebus, 156. 

fairer spoken, 174. 

faith (=:seif-reliance), 163. 

fall (transitive), 161. 

fancy (—love), 18S, 196, 199. 

farces (=fills), 189. 

fatuus, 1 80. 

fear (=fear for), 178. 

fear (=frighten), 183. 

fere, 190, 193. 

ferula, 181. 

file and quality, 194. 

fire-ill, 181. 

fires (dissyllable), 191. 

flurted, 163. 

foison, 192. 

for {=as regards), 158. 

for ( = because), 163, 166, 

197. 
forward, 172. 
frampal, 181. 
frize, 180. 
full of bread, 160. 

gawds, 188. 

general of ebbs and flows, 

194. 
gentility, 156. 
gentle token, 175. 
gently (trisyllable), 172. 
germane, 191. 
glade, 186. 
glass of ladies, 1 58. 
glister, 192. 
globy, 193. _ 
go to law with, 196. 
God's lid, 196. 
grace, 199. 
grand-guard, 183. 
grave (=bury), 172. 
graved (^furrowed), 196. 
green, 190. 
green eye, 193. 
grey-eyed, 188. 
griefs (= grievances), 175. 
grise, 171. 
ground-piece, 159. 
gyves, 175. 

had as lief, 158. 
hail (play upon), i8i. 
half-sights, 196. 
happily (= haply), 167. 
happiness, 174. 
hardly, 197. 
have at thy life, 183. 
have with j'e, 173. 
he 's (^he shall), 179. 
heavy (=sad), 170. 
her bells dim, 154. 



Hercules ( pronunciation ), 

hilding, 180. 

his (=its), 186, 196. 

hoar (chough), 156. 

hobby-horse, 194. 

hold, 173. 

honesty (^chastity), 194. 

horn-book, 173. 

house-clogs, 174. 

howlet, 181. 

human title, 162. 

i' the nick, 181. 

imports (=concems), 161. 

in (^into), 166. 

in plight, 175. 

innocent (=idiot), 167, 185. 

intelligence, 165. 

it's, i6o. 

its, 164. 

ivy-tods, 188. 

jadery, 198. 
jane, 180. 
jaw (verb), 176. 
joy (—rejoice), 188. 
jump (—just), 163. 

keep touch, 173, 178. 

kenn'st, 1S7. 

kind (=nature), 195. 

knacks, 174. 

knights (female), 193. 

knolls, 159. 

lag hours, 197. 

lards it, 189. 

large (^loose), 193. 

larks'-heels, 155. 

laund, 174- 

lets (noun), 182. 

lewdly, 187. 

liberal, 193. 

Light o' Love, 194. 

like the time, 199. 

limiter, 191. 

lined, 170. 

loaden, 171. 

lock, 161. 

loose (=lose), 186. 

lovers (=friends), 191. 

loves, 200. 

maculate, 194. 

maiden pinks, 154- 

main goodness, 171. 

make death a devil, 184. 

make lanes, 168. 

make pursuit ( play upon ), 

163. 
makes no cry, 173. 
manage (noun), 198. 



mankind (accent), 172. 

marigolds, 155. 

niartialist, 163. 

meditance, 159. 

medius fidius, 180. 

Meleager, 180. 

mere (^absolute), 163, 171. 

mickle, 182. 

miller's mare, 194. 

mind (=think of), 185. 

minstrels (trisyllable), 186. 

miscarry (=perish), 183, 196. 

moiety, 161. 

moped, 176. 

more (=greater), 172. 

more bigger looked, 161. 

morris, 173, 1S2. 

niusit, J 75. 

name's opinion, 184- 
JNemean (accent), 157. 
next (^nearest), 177. 
nice, 195. 

not right (=insane), 185. 
note (=stigma), 198. 

O fair, O sweet (songl, 186. 
offence (=blow), 196. 
offices, 177. 
old importment's bastard, 

167. 
on (—one), 164, 167. 
on end he stands, 198. 
operance, 166. 
opinion (=reputaiion), 184. 
ospreys, 159. 
our (dissyllable), 164. 
out of square, igo. 
out-breasted, 196. 
out-dure, 183. 
owest (=ownest), 158, 198. 
owgh, 186. 
oxlips, 155. 

parlously, 173. 

peace, to a, 181. 

Pelops' shoulder, 187. 

pelting, 173. 

pencilled (=painted), 195. 

penner, 182. 

pen'worth, 189. 

Philomels, 196. 

piece of silver, 189. 

pieces (= works), 166. 

Pigmies, 179. 

pinch "em, 197. 

plantain (for wounds), 163. 

play-feres, 190. 

plurisy, 192. 

pointed (^appointed), 194. 

poise (noun), 199. 

polled, 192. 

port (=gate), 194. 



INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED. 



203 



port (verb), 191. 

posies, 186. 

power on, 158. 

prayers t dissyllable), 191. 

precipitance, 160. 

presently, 171. 

pretended (=intended), 161. 

pretenders, 194. 

price (=;reward), 195. 

prime (=chief j, 162. 

primrose, 154. 

prim' St, 196. 

proin, 184. 

proper {=comely), 174. 

Proserpine, 189. 

purchase (^win), 174. 

purger, 157. 

pyramid, 185, 196. 

quaint, 154. 
question, 195. 
qui passa, 181. 
quit, 17s, 183, 197. 
quousque tandem, etc., 180. 

rable, i8r. 

rarely, 186. 

ravished, 171. 

raze you, 156. 

reck (spelling), 176. 

record (accent), 172- 

records (=recorders), 193. 

redemption, 196. 

regiment; igo. 

repletion, 163. 

require (=ask), 158, 191. 

retain (= employ), 163. 

rheum, 197. 

right (=downright), 183. 

rings of rushes, 186. 

rinsing (spelling), 160. 

roast eggs, 173. 

ruins, 163. 

run her, 179. 

sacrifices, 191. 

Saturn, 19S. 

say (=speak), 200. 

scape, 185. 

scurril, 194. 

secure (= careless), 160. 

sempster, 180. 

servant, 158, 196. 

set off (—offset), 196. 

several (:;^separate), 174- 

sib, 164. 



silent hanging, 182. 

since I have known fight's 

fury, etc., 168. 
sire (.dissyllable), 174. 
skip (=ignore), 175. 
skipt, 192. 

slanderous cuckoo, 156. 
smallness (of voice), 1S6. 
sod, 166. 

soon (=easy), 183. 
sotted, 188. 
sow of lead, 196. 
speed (=success), 166. 
spoom, 179. 
sports, 166. 
spread her, 157. 
stammers 'em, 171. 
stamp (play upon), 162. 
state (—estate), 190. 
state of nature, 177. 
stead (verb), 156, 
still among, 190. 
stomach, 176. 
stool-ball, 194. 
strait, 183. 
stre wings, 171, 
strike (measure), 194. 
styl'd it, 158. 

success (accent), 161, 196. 
success (tissue), 190. 
surfeit, 161. 
swarth, 187. 
synod, 161. 

tackle, 173. 
tailor (woman's), 186. 
take hands, 160. 
talons (spelling), 156. 
taste to you, 197. 
tasteful, 161. 
tediosity, 180. 

tell (=count), 181, 198, 199. 
tender (verb), 191. 
terrene, 166. 

that ( = so that), 185, 193, 
, 195- 

thereby hangs a tale, 178. 
this world 's a city, etc., 

170. 
Ihyine (spelling^, 154. 
tilters, 196. 
to ( = for), 184. 
to (=in comparison with), 

I together, 177. 

I token (play upon), 162. 



too-timely, 171. 
too-too, 197. 
top the bowling, 187. 
tottering Fortune, 197. 
touch, keep, 173, 178. 
toy (=^ finery), 166. 
toy (=whim), 198. 
trace, 180. 
transported, 157. 
travail (spelling), 153. 
trick o' the hip, 173. 
twinning, 161. 

uncandied, 158. 

unclasp, 194. 

undertaker, 157. 

undo with thunder, 188. 

unwappered, 197. 

uin (verb), 156. 

uses (—exercises), 171. 

vast field, 193. 

vengeance and revenge. 157. 

vengeance (trick), 173. 

Ver, 154. 

videlicet, 194. 

virginals, 177. 

virtue (—valour), 1S3. 

visitating, 160. 

voluble, 164. 

want (=lack), 162. 

ward, 196. 

washed a tile, 180. 

weavers, 173. 

weeds, 163. 

weigh (anchor), 186. 

well disposed, 188. 

what (=who), 168. 

wheaten garland, 154. 

where (=whereas>, 183. 

whereto, 157. 

whether, 185, 188. 

whipstock, 164. 

who (omitted), 163, 164. 

who (=which), 164. 

whoo-bub, 174. 

widows to our woes, 160. 

Willow, willow, willow, 186. 

wine and bread, 180. 

wink ( = shut the eyes), 

.195- 
winner's oak, 189. 
wise (= discreet), 174. 
woe worth, 184- 
wood (^mad), 187. 





THE WALLS OF ATHENS RESTORED- 






SHAKESPEARE. 



WITH NOTES BY WM. J. ROLFE, A.M. 



The Merchant of Venice. 

The Tempest. 

Julius Caesar. 

Hamlet. 

As You Like It. 

Henry the Fifth. 

Macbeth. 

Henry the Eighth. 

A Midsummer-Night's Dream. 

Richard the Second. 

llichard the Third. 

Much Ado Ahout Nothing. 

Antony and Cleopatra. 

Eomeo and Juliet. 

OtheUo. 

Twelfth Night. 

The Winter's Tale. 

King John. 

Henry IV. Part I. 

Henry IV. Part II. 



King Lear. 

The Taming of the Shrew. 

All 's Well That Ends Well. 

Coriolanus. 

Comedy of Errors. 

Cymbeline. 

Merry Wives of Windsor. 

Measure for Measure. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona. 

Lore's Labour 's Lost. 

Timon of Athens. 

Henry VI. Part I. 

Henry VI. Part II. 

Henry VI. Part III. 

Troilus and Cressida. 

Pericles, Prince of Tyre. 

The Two Noble Kinsmen. 

Poems. 

Sonnets. 

Titus Andronicus. 



Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, 56 cts. per Vol. ; Paper, 40 cts. per Yol. 



In the preparation of this edition of the EngHsh Classics it has been 
the aim to adapt them for school and home reading, in essentially the 
same way as Greek and Latin Classics are edited for educational pur- 
poses. The chief requisites are a pure text (expurgated, if necessary), 
and the notes needed for its thorough explanation and illustration. 

Each of Shakespeare's plays is complete in one volume, and is pre- 
ceded by an Introduction containing the " History of the Play," the 
" Sources of the Plot," and *' Critical Comments on the Play." 



From Horace Howard Furness, Ph.D., LL.D., Editor of the ^^JVeiv Vario- 
rum Shakespeare.'''' 

No one can examine these volumes and fail to be impressed with the 
conscientious accuracy and scholarly completeness with which they ai^e 
edited. The educational purposes for which the notes are written Mr. 
Rolfe never loses sight of, but like "a well-experienced archer hits the 
mark his eve doth level at." 



Rolfe's Shakespeare. 



Fi'om F. J. FURNIVALL, Director of the New Shakspere Society, London. 

The merit I see in Mr. Rolfe's school editions of Shakspere's Plays 
over those most widely used in England is that Mr. Rolfe edits the plays 
as works of a poet, and not only as productions in Tudor English. Some 
editors think that all they have to do with a play is to state its source 
and explain its hard words and allusions j they treat it as they would a 
charter or a catalogue of household furniture, and then rest satisfied. 
But Mr. Rolfe, while clearing up all verbal difficulties as carefully as any 
Dryasdust, always adds the choicest extracts he can find, on the spirit 
and special "note" of each play, and on the leading characteristics of its 
chief personages. He does not leave the student without help in getting 
at Shakspere's chief attributes, his characterization and poetic power. 
And every practical teacher knows that while every boy can look out 
hard words in a lexicon for himself, not one in a score can, unhelped, 
catch points of and realize character, and feel and express the distinctive 
individuality of each play as a poetic creation. 

From Prof. Edward Dowden, LL.D., of the' University of Dublin^ 
Author of ^^ Shakspere : His Mind and Art." 

I incline to think that no edition is likely to be so useful for school and 
home reading as yours. Your notes contain so much accurate instruc- 
tion, with so little that is superfluous ; you do not neglect the aesthetic 
study of the play ; and in externals, paper, type, binding, etc., you make 
a book " pleasant to the eyes " (as well as " to be desired to make one 
wise ") — no small matter, I think, with young readers and with old. 

From Edwin A. Abbott, M.A., Author of ^^ Shakespearian Grammar.'''' 

I have not seen any edition that compresses so much necessary infor- 
mation into so small a space, nor any that so completely avoids the com- 
mon faults of commentaries on Shakespeare — needless repetition, super- 
fluous explanation, and unscholar-like ignoring of difficulties. 

From Hiram Corson, M.A., Professor of Anglo-Saxoji and English 
Literature, Cornell University, Ithaca, A''. V. 

In the way of annotated editions of separate plays of Shakespeare, for 
educational purposes, I know of none quite up to Rolfe's. 



Rolfe^s Shakespeare. 



From Prof. F. J. Child, of Harvard University. 

I read your " Merchant of Venice" with my class, and found it in every 
respect an excellent edition. I do not agree with my friend White in the 
opinion that Shalcespeare requires but few notes — that is, if he is to be 
thoroughly understood. Doubtless he may be enjoyed, and many a hard 
place slid over. Your notes give all the help a young student requires, 
and yet the reader for pleasure will easily get at just what he wants. 
You have indeed been conscientiously concise. 

Under date of July 25, 1879, Prof. Child adds : Mr. Rolfe's editions 
of plays of Shakespeare are very valuable and convenient books, whether 
for a college class or for private study. I have used them with my 
students, and I welcome every addition that is made to the series. They 
show care, research, and good judgment, and are fully up to the time in 
scholarship. I fully agree with the opinion that experienced teachers 
have expressed of the excellence of these books. 

From Rev. A. P. Peabody, D.D., Professor in Harvard University. 

I regard your own woi'k as of the highest meiit, while you have turned 
the labors of others to the best possible account. I want to have the 
higher classes of our schools introduced to Shakespeare chief of all, and 
then to other standard English authors ; but this cannot be done to ad- 
vantage, unless under a teacher of equally rare gifts and abundant leisure, 
or through editions specially prepared for such use. I trust that you 
will have the requisite encouragement to proceed with a work so hap- 
pily begun. 

From the Examiner and Chronicle, IV. Y. 

We repeat what we have often said, that there is no edition of Shake- 
speare's which seems to us preferable to Mr. Rolfe's. As mere specimens 
of the printer's and binder's art they are unexcelled, and their other 
merits are equally high. Mr. Rolfe, having learned by the practical ex- 
perience of the class-room what aid the average student really needs in 
order to read Shakespeare intelligently, has put just that amount of aid 
into his notes, and no more. Having said what needs to be said, he stops 
there. It is a rare virtue in the editor of a classic, and we are propor- 
tionately grateful for it. 



Rolfe^s Shakespeare. 



From the N". V. Times. 

This work has been done so well that it could hardly have been done 
better. It shows throughout knowledge, taste, discriminating judgment, 
and, what is rarer and of yet higher value, a sympathetic appreciation of 
the poet's moods and purposes. 

From the Pacific School Journal^ San Francisco. 

This edition of Shakespeare's plays bids fair to be the most valuable 
aid to the study of English literature yet published. For educational pur- 
poses it is beyond praise. Each of the plays is printed in large clear type 
and on excellent paper. Every difficulty of the text is clearly explained 
by copious notes. It is remarkable how many new beauties one may dis- 
cern in Shakespeare with the aid of the glossaries attached to these books. 
. . . Teachers can do no higher, better work than to inculcate a love 
for the best literature, and such books as these will best aid them in 
cultivating a pure and refined taste. 

From the Christian Union, N. Y. 

Mr. W. J. Rolfe's capital edition of Shakespeare — by far the best edi- 
tion for school and parlor use. We speak after some practical use of it 
in a village Shakespeare Club. The notes are brief but useful ; and the 
necessary expurgations are managed with discriminating skill. 

From the Acade??iy, Lojidon. 

Mr. Rolfe's excellent series of school-editions of the Plays of Shake- 
speare. . . . Mr. Rolfe's editions differ from some of the English ones 
in looking on the plays as something more than word-puzzles. They give 
the student helps and hints on the characters and meanings of the plays, 
while the word-notes are also full and posted up to the latest date. . . . 
Mr. Rolfe also adds to each of his books a most useful " Index of Words 
and Phrases explained." 

Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

i^^^ Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the 
United States, on receipt of the Price. 



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